Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2013

I’m supposed to believe that my best innovation can only come from scores of startup founders who just made millions and have now become CVOs at my company? Let’s assume $2 million in seed money. ” Mark – doesn’t the acquiring company mostly care about the super innovative founders?

Liquidation Preference 357

Liquidation Preference Early Stage Retention Lock-up Period 357

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 17, 2021

How can either of you confidently give a valuation of a business that doesn’t make money? According to Devon Fanfair, co-founder of startup studio Devland , “building companies that demonstrate enterprise value is the best path for new builders because they generate revenue with very little investment.

Startup 78

Startup Revenue Cofounder Angel Investor 78

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2015

I was out to raise my first seed money in my second startup of $500,000. Firms like Baseline, Felicis, ff Ventures, Founder Collective, Freestyle, HomeBrew, IA Ventures, K9, Lowercase, NextView, Resolute, Rincon, Crosscut and the countless other great firms we all now know didn’t exist.

Seed Stage 150

Seed Stage Silicon Valley Syndicate Syndication 150

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 23, 2015

So whereas seed rounds five years ago may have been less than a million dollars on a pre-money valuation of three or four million, today''s seed is up and over a million and usually closer to two million, with post money valuations nearing $10 million. in seed money instead of $1.5M

Post-Money Valuation 60

Post-Money Valuation Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Seed Money 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. But, the manner in which you get paid can swing your valuation considerably.

Valuation 48

Valuation Forecast Seed Money Business Model 48

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

I think the issue was mostly framed initially by Chris Dixon in his article The Problem with Taking Seed Money from Big VC s. If we can’t agree on price I tell entrepreneurs that they can raise money and say “GRP will speak for half of the round.&# Done – the only signal is positive. the $190 million).

Post-Money Valuation 298

Post-Money Valuation Term Sheet Warrant Partner 298

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2010

Chris Dixon provided some commentary on Twitter that he believes I missed “the most important point about fund size.&# He’s specifically referring to his point of view that entrepreneurs shouldn’t take seed money from “big VC’s&# (he defines them as > $100 million). You raised angel money.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Term Sheet Early Stage Silicon Valley 265

Rob Go

MARCH 10, 2012

I think that over time, this is the best way to handle market swings as a seed stage investor who is a) playing in a highly unpredictable part of the market and b) has a very long time horizon. Valuation Discipline. We have a pretty strong sense of what realistic valuation ranges are and aren’t for seed stage companies.

Seed Stage 49

Seed Stage Syndicate Syndication Marketing 49

Seeing Both Sides

MARCH 2, 2011

Here were some of the takeaways I had from the class discussion framed around three major questions I posed to the students: 1) Why did foursquare succeed as compared to the same founder (Dennis) in a similar venture (Dodgeball) in a different era and as compared to other teams pursuing LBS services in the same era? . The verdict?

API 44

API Valuation Lean Burn Rate 44

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

A typical startup goes throughseveral rounds of funding, and at each round you want to take justenough money to reach the speed where you can shift into the nextgear. I think it would help founders to understand funding better—notjust the mechanics of it, but what investors are thinking. Few startups get it quite right.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

www.paulgraham.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

And since a startup thatsucceeds ordinarily makes its founders rich, that implies gettingrich is doable too. A lot ofwould-be startup founders think the key to the whole process is theinitial idea, and from that point all you have to do is execute.Venture capitalists know better. Ideally you want between two and four founders.

Startup 105

Startup Cofounder Software Stock 105

Feld Thoughts

JULY 14, 2015

A company raises $1m of seed money from angels in a convertible note with a $6m cap. Assuming equity is raised at or above that cap, the total dilution, before the new money, is 16.6% (equivalent to an equity financing of $1m at a $6m post money valuation. Here’s the scenario. Sure – it happens.

Recapitalization 70

Recapitalization Pre-Money Valuation Post-Money Valuation Angel Investor 70

Version One Ventures

JANUARY 10, 2013

Many new founders think that because they’ve secured their seed round, it will be easy to find investors for the next round, and the next… However, a startup needs to demonstrate significant progress between funding rounds. Once you can show traction, with scalable marketing and sales channels, you can get vastly superior valuations.

Dilution 154

Dilution Valuation Bootstrapping Channel 154

www.businessinsider.com

SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

This Chart Shows Why VCs Are Willing To Give Hyped Startups Absurd Valuations. Y Combinator founder Paul Graham, the influential advisor to dozens of startups like Dropbox and Airbnb , sent his entrepreneurs an email Wednesday afternoon cautioning them against taking "lowball offers"—in particular, he said, from Google Ventures.

Silicon Valley 54

Silicon Valley Startup Valuation Venture Capital 54

pandodaily.com

NOVEMBER 29, 2012

“I wouldn’t expect anyone except seed investors to complain about it,” Graham says. “Founders don’t think their problems are due to trends. And in fact, overall trends are a second-order effect for founders.” Sarah Lacy is the founder and editor-in-chief of PandoDaily. Sarah Lacy.

Technical Review 93

Technical Review Silicon Valley Incubator Syria 93