Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

Of course it is super helpful if a VC can drop you in to important people for business development, recruiting, PR, sales and eventually M&A. When you look at a deal so much of what you’re trying to understand are the skills, resiliency , work ethic, motivation and team dynamics of the founders. Connections?

Portfolio 364

Portfolio Chicago Sales Incubator 364

crowdSPRING Blog

NOVEMBER 21, 2013

Demystifying 409A Valuations - crowdspring.co/18IYhky. Interesting perspective on lack of women founders - crowdspring.co/1dfjDxu. … Dropbox Could Be A Bargain At An $8 Billion Valuation | TechCrunch - crowdspring.co/1gZjkaE. … Dropbox Could Be A Bargain At An $8 Billion Valuation | TechCrunch - crowdspring.co/1gZjkaE.

Social Media 96

Social Media Small Business Design Media 96

crowdSPRING Blog

MAY 9, 2014

Founders with Kids – crowdspring.co/1rW91oS. Surprising Trends in Startup Founder Equity Stakes | by Tomasz Tunguz – crowdspring.co/1njnhbl. Surprising Trends in Startup Founder Equity Stakes | by Tomasz Tunguz – crowdspring.co/1njnhbl. Founders with Kids – crowdspring.co/1rW91oS.

Social Media 93

Social Media Small Business Design Media 93

Genuine VC

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

The following is a first pass at a checklist of items for Founder CEOs to take care of in the first couple weeks after they’ve closed their initial round of seed funding. Funding Announcement Figure out your PR strategy for announcing the round to get your plan in order.

Founder 156

Founder Cap Table Stock Options PR 156

View from Seed

MARCH 31, 2015

Editor’s note: Unlike the Ubers and Airbnbs of the tech startup world, seed-stage companies don’t typically have the valuations, awareness, or traction typically associated with press coverage. There was one startup I had wanted to write a profile on, but the founder kept saying, “It’s not time yet.”

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage PR North Dakota Startup 120

www.entrepreneur.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Answers Ask Entrepreneur Home Business Operations Business Opportunities Sales & Marketing Advertising & PR Finance & Accounting Franchises Home Business Human Resources Internet/E-Commerce Legal Issues Starting Up Technology Most Recent Answers How Can I Streamline My E-Commerce Operation? Young Entrepreneurs How I Did It: The TOMS Story.

Sweat Equity 55

Sweat Equity Equity Fractional CTO CTO 55

ConversionXL

AUGUST 11, 2021

All companies that This Week in Startups’ audience of entrepreneurs, company founders, and marketers would be interested in. A sponsorship strategy should cover five areas: Assets Audience data Asset valuation Activations Market identification. Asset valuation. PR Week does this in a Twitter poll. What do they dislike?

Audience 139

Audience Social Media Email Ruby 139

crowdSPRING Blog

NOVEMBER 1, 2013

The Unexpected Compensation Trends of Post-Series A Startup Founder/CEOs – crowdspring.co/1iu3ukT. But a nearly $4 billion valuation? It’s The Future” – crowdspring.co/1c1aJij. 11 Ways Big Companies Undermine Innovation | Scott Kirsner – Harvard Business Review – crowdspring.co/1aksObQ.

Social Media 94

Social Media Small Business Design Media 94

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

For starters let me use “CEO” as a proxy to include her “inner circle” which might mean co-founders or might just mean senior execs of the business. The Mind of the Founder. The mind of a founder is wired differently than most people. The startup CEO was not the original founder.

Startup 417

Startup Dilution San Diego Stock Options 417

500hats.com

AUGUST 2, 2012

but the food was awesome, & the PR wasn’t bad either). However after Sequoia and Ron Conway announced their investment in YC in 2009 , and after YC alumni DropBox and AirBnb raised capital on billion-dollar valuations in 2010-11, the program quickly became the gold standard among early-stage startup incubators.

Silicon Valley 74

Silicon Valley Early Stage Venture Capital Valuation 74

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

Signal is a fundraising tool for founders run by NFX Guild, which identifies the most relevant VCs for you. . Close to 80% responded that manual processes, such as tracking down support, preparing reports and pulling data from different sources, are the biggest pain points they face in the valuation process. Pitchbot.vc

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 9, 2019

Although some founders take venture capital in exchange for equity, that’s not the only way to do it. To learn more about the pros and cons of venture capital — and founders’ funding alternatives — I caught up with Mark McKee. Mark McKee : Most first-time founders I’ve met don’t, frankly. Why or why not? Oftentimes, it is.

Venture Capital 105

Venture Capital Equity SBA Finance 105

Lightspeed Venture Partners

NOVEMBER 19, 2012

The two founders are attorneys in Mobile, Alabama, who found themselves wearing the same ties over and over again, and wanted to find a way to expand their wardrobe. The company launched six months ago and so far has grown to 110 subscribers, with all customer acquisition coming from PR and referrals. He was pretty impressive.

Pre-Money Valuation 163

Pre-Money Valuation Alabama Valuation Churn Rate 163

Agile VC

JANUARY 21, 2015

A population of founders, employees, investors, advisors, and others all aligned in trying to build large disruptive businesses is naturally prone to lofty, even over-the-top language. Not every round of funding is closed at a “monster” valuation. How can we put things into context? Communicate Challenges 1-on-1.

Cofounder 188

Cofounder Seed Stage Employee PR 188

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 26, 2010

The newly formed teams then work for the entire weekend, with the help of some experienced mentors from the industry, who volunteer their time to share advice on product, technology, legal, PR and other issues. Very cool concept and I want to thank the founder Adil Mohammed for inviting me to take part in it. Be a salesman.

Elevator Pitch 103

Elevator Pitch Incubator Technical Review Startup 103

crowdSPRING Blog

NOVEMBER 30, 2012

The Founders Lie About Comfort Zones – [link]. Investors Need to Lose Their Egos and Founders Need to Gain Some Confidence – [link]. … Checking In on Foursquare’s Valuation – [link]. The Anti-Social Era: Lessons Learned from Vimeo Founder Jake Lodwick – [link]. Just got acquired?

Social Media 100

Social Media Small Business Central African Republic Design 100

View from Seed

MARCH 8, 2016

Jesse Derris is the founder and CEO of Derris & Company , a PR, branding, and communications firm based in New York. When we work with founders, for instance, we’ll collaborate early on to uncover what the brand story is and how to articulate it. How should a founder think about spending on branding strategy and comms?

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Conversion Startup PR 120

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

The law of large numbers (of customers) says you cant help but make at least some money - your valuation is determined by how well you monetize the tidal wave of growth. In this model, you take some fraction of the lifetime value of each customer and plow that back into paid acquisition through SEM, banner ads, PR, affiliates, etc.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco CPA SEM CTO Hire 167

crowdSPRING Blog

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

Evolution of a Founder: Lessons I have learned | Om Malik – [link]. Valuations in the Series A and Series B Market are Booming – [link]. Why Content Marketing is Not Branding | Copyblogger – [link]. How to Optimize Every Decision in Your Life and Accomplish Nothing | LinkedIn – [link].

Social Media 106

Social Media Small Business Technical Review Design 106

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Last spring, Dave Graham , founder of software consulting firm Arizona Bay, learned that a major client, Jumpstart Automotive Media, had been acquired for more than $80 million. In the past few years, hundreds of small companies have been snatched up by private equity firms willing to agree to ever-rising valuations. To find answers.

Arizona 40

Arizona Equity Iowa Venture Capital 40

Cracking the Code

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

was a great outcome for the company (kudos to Josh James, their visionary founder & CEO!) Detailed SaaS Spreadsheet (Valuation and CAC benchmark). SaaS 13 Index Valuation. Impact of the recession on SaaS Sales&Marketing pr. The acquisition of Omniture by Adobe for $1.8B My Investments. CornerstoneOnDemand.

Software Review 48

Software Review Technical Review IPO Cloud 48

Steve Blank

MARCH 18, 2011

The signals are loud and clear : seed and late stage valuations are getting frothy and wacky, and hiring talent in Silicon Valley is the toughest it has been since the dot.com bubble. Underwriters realized that as long as the public was happy snapping up shares, they could make huge profits from the inflated valuations. Carpe Diem.

Internet 334

Internet IPO Silicon Valley Agile 334

View from Seed

JANUARY 20, 2015

A population of founders, employees, investors, advisors, and others all aligned in trying to build large disruptive businesses is naturally prone to lofty, even over-the-top language. Not every round of funding is closed at a “monster” valuation. How can we put things into context? Communicate Challenges 1-on-1.

Cofounder 120

Cofounder Startup Employee PR 120

Agile VC

JANUARY 21, 2015

A population of founders, employees, investors, advisors, and others all aligned in trying to build large disruptive businesses is naturally prone to lofty, even over-the-top language. Not every round of funding is closed at a “monster” valuation. How can we put things into context? Communicate Challenges 1-on-1.

Cofounder 100

Cofounder Seed Stage Employee PR 100

Steve Blank

APRIL 5, 2017

This is often a tough concept for engineering founders who believe that if we just tell customers about the features that make their product faster, cheaper, etc. Founders ask me all the time whether they should hire a PR agency. Hiring a PR agency too early is a sign that the CEO is treating this as someone else’s problem.

Marketing 312

Marketing Audience Technical Review PR 312

Austin Startup

SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

For startup founders, it’s never too early to start thinking about putting together a target market advisory board. As founders, your job includes selling product to customers, stock to investors, and opportunity to employees. You might consider starting with an offer to invest at a low valuation before discussing sweat equity.

Advisory Board 48

Advisory Board Sweat Equity Marketing Vertical 48

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 11, 2010

I’m surprised how few people talk about valuations, term sheet terms, how much to pay recruiters, etc. And you can tell that the founders have thought greatly about creating the right kind of space for startup companies. We know prices of deals, compensation, who’s doing well / poorly, etc.

San Francisco 285

San Francisco Incubator Silicon Valley Startup 285

Cracking the Code

MARCH 23, 2007

Geoffrey Arone , the founder of FLock, who is now an Entrepreneur-In-Residence in our Menlo Park office, mentioned this company to me and I thought it was worth writting a post about it. Detailed SaaS Spreadsheet (Valuation and CAC benchmark). SaaS 13 Index Valuation. Impact of the recession on SaaS Sales&Marketing pr.

Software Review 48

Software Review Viral Media Marketing 48

The Startup Lawyer

FEBRUARY 4, 2011

But before your startup signs up and cashes that $[XX,000] check, your startup’s co-founders should sit down and evaluate the incubator’s offer. The following are some issues to consider and actions to take before accepting an incubator’s offer: (1) Calculate Valuation and Determine Value.

Incubator 105

Incubator Pre-Money Valuation Option Pool Advisory Board 105

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

As you think about how much equity to offer, have a reasonable valuation in mind thats been determined using professional advice. The offering to a consultant may affect your securities compliance in later offerings and will certainly add to further dilution to founders," Durkin says. Learn how from the experts at PR Newswire.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO Equity Iowa Technical Cofounder 40

Cracking the Code

DECEMBER 28, 2006

Recent guests: Heidi Roizen (Mobius), Philip Rosedale (Linden Labs) and the founders of Meebo. Detailed SaaS Spreadsheet (Valuation and CAC benchmark). SaaS 13 Index Valuation. Impact of the recession on SaaS Sales&Marketing pr. I innovate : a 20mn podcast on innovation and entrepreneurship. My Investments.

Software Review 48

Software Review Technical Review Technology San Francisco 48

The Equity Kicker

JULY 8, 2019

The other most common focus areas for platform teams are to employ talent and PR/marketing experts who give advice to portfolio companies on strategy in these areas and have relationships and discounts with pre-vetted agencies who can deliver the work. Although it is early days, we’re starting to see some positive data for our own portfolio.

Portfolio 84

Portfolio LP Venture Capital Partner 84

Cracking the Code

FEBRUARY 12, 2007

Bessemer was also heavily represented with David Cowan , managing partner and co-founder of VeriSign ( see his post about the event ), Rob Stavis , BVP’s New York-based managing partner who led our investment in Skype, Byron Deeter , partner and founder of Trigo and our COO/managing partner Ed Colloton. SaaS 13 Index Valuation.

Software Review 48

Software Review SEM Marketing Las Vegas 48

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 29, 2017

This is my favorite business quote because it removes all external factors and focuses on the most important one for launching a business — the founder. The company’s success is a determinant of the founder. Thanks to Bryanne Lawless, BLND PR ! #17 Thanks to Dan Eyman, Meld Valuation ! #24 – Sara Blakely.

Entrepreneur 48

Entrepreneur LLC Cofounder Montana 48

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

million at a $15 million pre-money valuation. My co-founder and other management team members wanted us to hold off and see whether we could get the deal done at a higher price. Morgan Stanley had proposed a higher valuation to let them in. million at a $15 million pre-money valuation. Yes, this was stupid.

Technical Review 301

Technical Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Venture Capital 301

Transformify

AUGUST 27, 2017

Your team is directly correlated with the valuation of your startup. It all starts with the founders. In some cases, the founders may even build the MVP themselves. Team comes first. It is your team that will save you, the entrepreneur, from a disaster. Then the hiring begins.

Hiring 64

Hiring Software Review Burn Rate Startup 64

The Next Web

JUNE 15, 2012

After all, cash may be in short supply, but there’s a virtually endless amount of work to be done, from coding and web development, to PR, sales, general operations, or sage advice from an industry veteran. It’s a logical solution. Plan upfront. Many young tech startups reserve 15%-20% for employee stock options. Put it in writing.

Equity 116

Equity Stock Options Vesting Stock 116