David Teten

JANUARY 9, 2018

Similarly, firms like my alma mater ff Venture Capital and Andreessen Horowitz have executed this strategy in VC. We think there are a lot of opportunities to differentiate by using technology aggressively, e.g., Totem , an investor operating system built by some of my past colleagues at ff Venture Capital. .

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Private Equity Silicon Valley Differentiation 60

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

Private equity and venture capital investors are copying our sisters in the hedge fund and mutual fund world: we’re trying to automate more of our job. An investor had few hard metrics other than the actual financials, and little technology to make the process scaleable. But we’re doing it slowly. Pitchbot.vc

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

And while the “first mover advantage” was the rallying cry of the last bubble, today’s is: “Massive capital infusion can own the entire market.” Jeff Katzenberg has a great track record – head of the studio at Paramount, chairman of Disney Studios, co-founder of DreamWorks and now chairman of NewTV.

Lean 335

Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO 335

View from Seed

DECEMBER 11, 2019

I’m thrilled to announce that I’m joining [New Firm] as a Partner where I will continue to invest in great Founders across the industries I care about.”. “I So why is there so much turnover in Venture Capital? Bonus points if they’re a Founder of the firm. “I have exciting personal news.”. Track record.

Venture Capital 204

Venture Capital Cap Table Partner LP 204

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 21, 2023

This is a question startup founders ask themselves multiple times a week. It’s not just the competition against the incumbents and the large tech platforms that founders has to worry about, but most importantly is the company’s performance and product market fit. How are we doing?

Retention 109

Retention Conversion Churn Rate B2C 109

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

On the phone … Me: So, you raised venture capital? There were no metrics. Him: On metrics. If we priced it based on any metrics your company would likely be worth less than 7 figures at your A round. We raised a seed round. About $1 million. Me: At what price? Him: It wasn’t priced. Me: With a cap?

Venture Capital 417

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet 417

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

One of the things that founders have the most angst about is whom they should have on their board and at what stage of the business. Why you should set up a board at the seed round of funding I know these days with SAFE documents and rolling convertible notes many founders prefer not to set up a board early on.

Venture Capital 236

Venture Capital Startup Angel Investor Silicon Valley 236

View from Seed

OCTOBER 24, 2019

As seed rounds have atomized, it’s not uncommon for founders to raise 3 or even 4 rounds prior to a series A. The reality is that if a founder raised every one of these rounds, and lead investors always got their “target” ownership, the level of dilution would be ridiculous. Founders with limited experience. should be avoided.

Dilution 149

Dilution B2B Burn Rate Early Stage 149

David Teten

APRIL 6, 2015

Both founders and researchers in healthcare are spending far too much of their energy in areas where they’re not going to make maximum impact. The industry standard metric for tracking the severity of disease is disability-adjusted life years ( DALYs ), i.e., the number of healthy life years lost due to the disease or risk.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Technical Review Non-Compete Philadelphia 60

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

From RBI, Flexible VCs borrow the ability to reap meaningful returns without demanding founders build for an exit. Every Flexible VC structure allows founders to access immediate risk capital while preserving exit, growth trajectory, and ownership optionality. . Flexible VC 102: Variations.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

View from Seed

DECEMBER 4, 2019

At the time, I spent most of my time describing the metrics themselves and how VCs and their LPs evaluate performance based on these measurements. If you aren’t familiar with these metrics, I recommend reading the original post to get a sense of the numbers that I’ll be reviewing here. appeared first on NextView Ventures.

LP 256

LP IRR Distribution Portfolio 256

Duct Tape Marketing

NOVEMBER 14, 2013

Ego Metrics: What Measurements Matter? The problem is that some of these metrics aren’t meaningful. In fact, some of the most visible metrics are the most misleading. This is possibly the most visible metric in social media, but many of those followers are inactive or even inhuman robots. So what metrics really matter?

Metrics 71

Metrics Social Media Widget Chicago 71

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

I’ve been a traditional equity VC for 8 years, and I’m now researching new business models in venture capital. I believe that Revenue-Based Investing (“RBI”) VCs are on the forefront of what will become a major segment of the venture ecosystem. RBI structures help to protect the equity of both founders and investors.

Revenue 60

Revenue Term Sheet Founder Technical Review 60

View from Seed

MARCH 24, 2021

At NextView Ventures we have written many pieces about venture capital — how to raise it, build your business, engage with investors, iterate your product, navigate expanding industries, etc. Doing Reference Checks on VCs “Try to speak to at least one founder that the investor has worked with in a failed investment.

Seed Stage 177

Seed Stage Hiring IPO Analytics 177

David Teten

MAY 20, 2016

My colleague Sebastian Soler, software engineer at ff Venture Capital, is leading the launch of a new Meetup with me. Founders/C-suite executives at technology companies primarily focused on working with investors in private markets. I asked him to write a guest post: Hi! who use tech solutions in their day-to-day process.

Private Equity 113

Private Equity Equity Cap Table Venture Capital 113

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 2, 2022

That’s on average the time venture capital investors spend on a pre-seed pitch deck, according to the latest Dropbox/Docsend funding research report. I touched on this in my post “ Founder Investor Fit “ Passing the initial filtering process. What most improved your primary metric? 2 and a half minutes.

Technical Review 166

Technical Review Early Stage Cofounder Portfolio 166

Steve Blank

JANUARY 22, 2014

This means that those winning deals have to make a ~30x return to provide the venture capital fund that 20% compound return (the 6x). This learning and the measurements and metrics that surround it is what evidence based entrepreneurship is all about and what makes it a powerful tool for entrepreneurs, investors and accelerators.

Early Stage 290

Early Stage Silicon Valley Oregon Technical Review 290

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 27, 2011

I interviewed Eric for an hour for - This Week in Venture Capital. Timecodes: 00:00 Welcome, our guest is Eric Ries, founder of the Lean Startup Movement. 48:30 Vanity metrics. 52:00 Actionable metrics. ” This week was no exception. There are many in this episode. Check it out. 00:45 Intro to Eric.

Silicon Valley 301

Silicon Valley Lean Social Media PR 301

The Startup Magazine

FEBRUARY 11, 2022

On the other side of the spectrum, the idea of finding a unicorn has attracted many investors toward the much riskier venture capital and emerging technologies. Real estate has long been considered a sound investment, and has become even more popular in recent years as historical data has shown the market’s relatively low volatility.

Private Equity 165

Private Equity Equity Technical Review Software Review 165

David Teten

DECEMBER 16, 2015

I review a lot of board decks with a beautifully hand-crafted page with metrics for the company. Good metrics are comparable across industries; comparative ; readily understandable; and help drive decisions. Comparative means that you can compare a metric across time periods, groups of users, or competitors. So how do you do it?

Metrics 60

Metrics Analytics Balance Sheet .Net 60

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

by Lu Zhang, founder and managing partner of Fusion Fund. Competition from other startups and established incumbents, constraints on time and capital, and limited access to talent and technology resources are just a few of the hurdles nearly every first-time founder faces while trying to build a business.

Technical Review 140

Technical Review Due Diligence Early Stage Differentiation 140

SoCal CTO

MARCH 11, 2013

Yesterday, I was talking to a startup founder about their MVP and they said something that finally got me to write this post: "I have a few investors interested but they want to see a product." If you do build the MVP and show it to them, they will ask you about your metrics. They really want metrics, not a product.

Algorithm 264

Algorithm Metrics Viral Venture Capital 264

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Draw Your Ideas - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , May 16, 2010 I saw Jack Dorsey give this talk at The 99% Conference last month. But founders need to know how to ask for their advice and when to ignore it. But startups can shoot themselves in the foot when founders use consultants at the wrong time or in the wrong way.

Fractional CTO 248

Fractional CTO Startup Venture Capital Cofounder 248

Haystack

DECEMBER 29, 2018

6/ Venture Capital In Expansion Phase. Public investors, cross-over investors, and even traditional private equity firms have taken notice, further blurring the lines of what constitutes true venture capital. the firm may have a right to raise up to $100B but may not call all of it).

Technical Review 165

Technical Review Venture Capital Russia China 165

YoungUpstarts

JULY 31, 2019

by Anish Sebastian and Juan Pablo Segura, co-founders of Babyscripts. Of course, a certain amount of initial capital without financial performance is absolutely necessary to get a business off the ground, especially in regulated industries. betting on the future value of these young companies instead of their current traction. .

Cofounder 127

Cofounder Burn Rate Technical Cofounder Seed Capital 127

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

how on Earth could the venture capital market stand still? One of the most common questions I’m asked by people intrigued by but also scared by venture capital and technology markets is some variant of, “Aren’t technology markets way overvalued? two founders in a garage?—?(HP Of course we can’t. dot-com bonanza.

Pre-Money Valuation 471

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Venture Capital Early Stage 471

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 12, 2020

Venture capital firms have become more discerning where they put their limited funds to use, and banks have always been anti-startup in their business dealings. Founders Institute defines pivoting as shifting the business to encompass a new strategy that may entail changing how the entire company functions.

Bankruptcy 165

Bankruptcy Startup Agile Technical Review 165

Steve Blank

MAY 29, 2011

The email continued, &# The problem I’m working on is that many founders are either making uninformed decisions or inefficiently learning the new skills they need. The solution I’m exploring is a just in time learning methodology that accelerates founders’ learning curve by aggregating relevant content, peers and mentors.&#.

Technical Cofounder 334

Technical Cofounder Early Stage Startup Silicon Valley 334

SoCal CTO

MARCH 1, 2010

Startup Killer: the Cost of Customer Acquisition | For Entrepreneurs , February 2, 2010 Looks at the critical equation around customer acquisition cost vs. customer lifetime value similar to what I discussed in Startup Metrics but in more depth. This relates to another great post Freemium Founders: Start Charging for Things Today!

Acquisition 150

Acquisition Cofounder Technical Cofounder Cost 150

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

As the venture capital business has come roaring back in the last 5 years, startups are awash in available capital. Instead of measuring success in dollars of profit, …firms focus on measuring capital efficiency. To manage these employees companies create metrics to control, measure and reward execution.

Private Equity 328

Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 328

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2021

In my experience, here are some of the key elements of that “second-stage” of entrepreneurship: Move from small investors to major venture capital. In fact, it’s highly unlikely that you as the Founder will survive. In my experience, less than half of founding entrepreneurs even aspire to stay and scale their company.

Merger 379

Merger Due Diligence SEC IPO 379

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. Today, some Momentum-centric venture capital investors have high paper returns.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Valuation Stock NDA 60

Altgate

DECEMBER 15, 2010

@altgate Startups, Venture Capital & Everything In Between Skip to content Home Furqan Nazeeri (fn@altgate.com) ← No one wants to tell you your baby is ugly More on Liquidation Preferences → Pre-Money Valuation vs Number of Founders Posted on December 15, 2010 by admin Here’s a chart of the day worth sharing.

Pre-Money Valuation 66

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Cofounder Founder 66

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? How many of their founders are still with their company? How many of their founders are still with their company? Will they tailor your vesting to your contribution as a founder?

Founder 232

Founder Vesting Later Stage Early Stage 232

Austin Startup

JULY 22, 2017

The Walker Rule calls for diversity and inclusion in interviewing and hiring of startup co-founders, CEO, senior team, management, staff, board of directors and advisors. This is similar to something we did at Austin Ventures to encourage startups to make a donation to the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Central Texas.

Austin 54

Austin Angel Investor Startup Term Sheet 54

David Teten

JANUARY 23, 2021

The next best move is to build your core team, e.g., recruit an Advisory Board, Venture Partners, and EIRs. For ideas, see How Executives Can Work from Home with Private Equity and Venture Capital Funds. See How Emerging Venture Capital Fund Managers Should Think About Their LP Fundraising Strategies.

Private Equity 78

Private Equity Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review 78

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

What metrics do we use to see if we learned enough in Customer Discovery ? I gave my boilerplate answer, “I’m a product guy and I tend to invest and look at deals that have measurable revenue metrics. Dave McClure has some great metrics…” It was an honest but vaguely unsatisfying answer.

Customer Development 226

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 226