Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2014

Cashflow is a basic survival metric for every startup. Hire a professional marketing and public relations agency once you have a good revenue stream but you don’t need them to start a free blog, establish Facebook and Twitter accounts with initial content and complete the basics of search engine optimization.

Burn Rate 262

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Entrepreneur Salary 262

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

As a startup in this phase you often raise capital, get press, hire staff and everything feels possible. I always push companies to hire “an operationally focused CFO” during this phase because in order to systematize you need somebody who brings economic rigor to decision making. As an early-stage VC I love this phase.

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

What most founders don’t realize is: Every stage of a startup requires a different set of metrics and milestones and founder skills. For a Series A round you want to prove you have built a repeatable and scalable sales/revenue model and understand all parts of the business model. What is some of the critical metrics that matter?

Cofounder 429

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 429

VC Cafe

JANUARY 14, 2022

There are two main forms of exits for startups: trade sale/M&A or IPO. Many of the companies that went public via SPACs saw their valuations dramatically reduce in the months that followed post IPO. Several other hires are underway for the local office. SPACs have backfired.

Technical Review 158

Technical Review Lock-up Period South Korea 158

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

2: As expected at least one person accused me of writing this post because I want to see lower valuations. As the risks below get eliminated the higher the valuation investors are prepared to pay. So rounds tend to be “range bound&# where the top end of the valuation spectrum often being done in boom markets (i.e.

Pre-Money Valuation 336

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Stock 336

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

Cash flow is a basic survival metric for every startup. Hire a professional marketing and public relations agency once you have a good revenue stream but you don’t need them to start a free blog, establish Facebook and Twitter accounts with initial content and complete the basics of search engine optimization.

Burn Rate 120

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 120

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

I’m over-paying for every check I write into the VC ecosystem and valuations are being pushed up to absurd levels and many of these valuations and companies won’t hold in the long term. On the one hand, you’re over paying for every investment and valuations aren’t rational. Seksom Suriyapa ?—?he

Pre-Money Valuation 471

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Venture Capital Early Stage 471

Steve Blank

MARCH 17, 2020

All your assumptions about customers, sales cycle and most importantly, revenue, burn rate and runway are no longer true. If you are selling to businesses (a B-to-B market) have your customers’ sales dropped? If so, whatever revenue forecast and sales cycle estimates you had are no longer valid. Or you change sales strategy.

Burn Rate 436

Burn Rate Startup Valuation Sales Cycle 436

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

I previously posted a detailed presentation with sales technology tools useful for B2B sales. Many VC funds rely on general-purpose CRM and sales funnel solutions like Copper , Pipedrive, Salesforce , Streak , and ZenDesk. She is a model for us all! 5) Manage relationships (CRM). If you have one, please contact me.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2019

With the real data from that surge, you need to take a hard look at business model realities, cost of customer acquisition, inventory costs, and other key metrics. Even huge valuation increases will evaporate overnight when profitability is nowhere in sight, and you run out of money.

Silicon Valley 215

Silicon Valley Bankruptcy Metrics Valuation 215

crowdSPRING Blog

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

On the strength of that ad, Go Daddy had its biggest sales day ever. Help the Next Generation of Entrepreneurs: Hire One | Small Biz Daily – [link]. Don’t Hire Entrepreneurs; Hire Entrepreneurial Spirit | HBR – [link]. Valuations in the Series A and Series B Market are Booming – [link].

Social Media 106

Social Media Small Business Technical Review Design 106

Up and Running

OCTOBER 3, 2018

Tailor your marketing and sales plan to attract more people like your ideal customer. Components of this section include: Your marketing and sales plan. Milestones and metrics that you’ll need to hit to be viable. Marketing and sales plan. You will want to know the average sales and rental prices in the area.

El Paso 61

El Paso Business Plan Technical Review Forecast 61

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Convertible debt financings have become an increasingly attractive approach for seed rounds because it delays the valuation discussion, costs less from a legal standpoint, and is an easier financial instrument to “keep raising more small amounts of money” on. They close on the $750k, hire a buddy or two, buy some Macs, and get to work.

Burn Rate 152

Burn Rate Equity Software Review Early Stage 152

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

DECEMBER 16, 2014

What does it actually mean that metric X is better than average and metric Y is below? “It’s not fair,” we all said to ourselves. That was before WhatsApp sold for 19 billion dollars, with 55 employees. Measuring yourself against the average or median isn’t much better.

Metrics 246

Metrics Early Stage Retention Revenue 246

betashop.com

OCTOBER 8, 2012

million registered users, 7500 supplier partners, 600 team members, and a run-rate of more than $150M in sales in just 15 months. The most important hiring criteria for your executives is cultural fit. As CEO, you are responsible for every hire. So, here goes. Your One Thing falls at the intersection of 3 truths:? Keep at it.

Technical Review 108

Technical Review Technology Software Review Valuation 108

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

An investor had few hard metrics other than the actual financials, and little technology to make the process scaleable. Over the past few decades, better metrics became available, and investors could take a more analytical, data-driven approach. is an AI bot which helps companies refine their sales pitch to VCs. Pitchbot.vc

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Gust

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Entrepreneurs and investors who have spent any time dealing with convertible debt seed financing transactions are likely to have encountered the subject of valuation caps. Valuation caps can come into play in settings other than seed-stage convertible note financing rounds. Read on for a fuller explanation. by February 2006).

Valuation 98

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Merger Vesting 98

Reid Hoffman

MARCH 23, 2021

If they’re the kind of infinite learner who uses their past experiences to make their decision-making better, they have a huge advantage when it comes to everything from hiring to strategy to sales, making them an even better bet the second time around. The metrics from the dashboard are the key inputs for collective decisions.

Venture Capital 46

Venture Capital Metrics Investment Bankers Framework 46

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Business model viability, in the majority of startups, will come down to balancing two variables: Cost to Acquire Customers (CAC) The ability to monetize those customers, or LTV (which stands for Lifetime Value of a Customer) Successful web businesses have long understood these metrics as they have such an easy way to measure them.

Acquisition 103

Acquisition Cost Customer Entrepreneur 103

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2012

Longer-term, enhanced product value begets superior company valuation through your organization’s intellectual property (IP) portfolio. Proper hiring of people with a natural curiosity, open-mindedness, and ability to see the big picture is the way to create and enhance the right mind-set. Value creation. Accountability.

Intellectual Property 247

Intellectual Property IP Valuation .Net 247

Austin Startup

MAY 19, 2018

It drives up valuations, creates interest in the category among other investors, and in a new space a well funded competitor is usually out there educating audiences about the very problem the startup solves. Don’t boomerang founders If you have specific metrics you look for in early stage companies. Get excited (and show it!)

Founder 75

Founder Early Stage Software Review Deal Flow 75

Cracking the Code

NOVEMBER 13, 2008

The fact that SaaS valuations are being more affected by the downturn than the Nasdaq can be surprising given the supposed resiliency of the SaaS model (recurring revenues) but it translates the public investors belief that SMB software spend is going to be hit very hard by this recession. How long will the downturn last?

Software Review 48

Software Review Technical Review Valuation Portfolio 48

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 9, 2011

Longer-term, enhanced product value begets superior company valuation through your organization’s intellectual property (IP) portfolio. Proper hiring of people with a natural curiosity, open-mindedness, and ability to see the big picture is the way to create and enhance the right mind-set. Value creation. Accountability.

Intellectual Property 234

Intellectual Property IP Valuation .Net 234

Cracking the Code

MAY 25, 2010

One of his secret: "Incentivize your marketing team on sales not leads" Jeff Jordan, CEO of OpenTable speaking about his IPO process: " Build relationships with key public investors 2-3 years before going public (Morgan Stanley, Fidelity and T. "."1 Labels: design , internet , sales and marketing. SaaS 13 Index Valuation.

Software Review 74

Software Review Cloud IPO Jordan 74

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 26, 2022

The startup didn’t work out, but I found ways to be around it, whether it was on the sales side in Goldman for a few years. Good CEOs will look inside and say: “Hey, maybe we’ve been hiring a little bit too much during the sugar rush phase of the pandemic, and what does that mean for performance management? Sounds great.

Partner 132

Partner Cofounder Retention Acquisition 132

Cracking the Code

OCTOBER 10, 2008

Only after reaching $1M in CMRR should you consider hiring European sales and services execs behind customer demand. Be prepared to cross the desert - SaaS requires R&D and sales expense up front for a multi-year stream of revenue, so it demands enough investment capital to fund 4+ years of runway. at 11:09 AM. Great list!

Software Review 48

Software Review North America Europe Metrics 48

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 9, 2016

Most begin by doing the product development, marketing and sales alone, but struggle making the transition to hiring and coaching others, defining repeatable processes and focusing on future strategy. You need to nurture non-organic growth partnerships and acquisitions to maximize your valuation. It’s a big change.

Social Network 120

Social Network Demand Valuation Acquisition 120

steveblank.com

JULY 8, 2011

There is nothing on sales. Can you add useful resource for generating sales for start-ups. Reply jade , on February 27, 2011 at 2:25 pm said: Great compilation. Reply John Fan , on February 27, 2011 at 6:10 pm said: Dim dim was acquired by Salesforce and has been shut down. removed from the list.

Software Review 110

Software Review Startup Silicon Valley Analytics 110

Up and Running

DECEMBER 9, 2014

Maybe you are wondering which metrics to track, or whether or not you should take out a loan for your business. Which metrics do you most rely on to understand your business itself. The question is what metrics do you most rely on to understand your business’s health? I can hire a development team. What do you do?

Small Business 95

Small Business Finance Forecast Metrics 95

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

They feel the money can and should be spent on ways to grow the company, so they shift into growth mode by hiring more employees, paying themselves, hiring salespeople, running paid ad campaigns, and spending on overhead. You’re basically tinkering with everything at this stage – product, marketing, sales, partnerships, etc.

Metrics 136

Metrics Cofounder Cram Down Liquidity Event 136

Cracking the Code

FEBRUARY 4, 2008

The full agenda is available by clicking here but the day was a great opportunity to dive into the key questions that SaaS execs are wrestling with: How to design a sales comp plan? What metrics should I be using to drive a saas business? If you want to learn more on SaaS metrics, you can read my previous blog post. Stay local.

Software Review 48

Software Review South Korea IPO Portfolio 48

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 17, 2016

Now we are growing based on the projections our wholesale partners give us annually in sales. For Falling Sky, that includes a strategic decision to focus on location sales instead of wider distribution. Metrics: Know your numbers. Market valuation coverage (for offerings such as a barrel aging program). Relationships.

Oregon 60

Oregon Jordan SBA Cofounder 60

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 17, 2018

" Revenue doesn't pay your bills, GM does  —  @msuster 2/ Founders obsess with revenue as a vanity metric. But if you want to add some in the comments section on Medium and I’ll make sure to read them. Some even grow "bad" revenue just to show growth. Things happen, people tire, sometimes tragedies.

Founder 242

Founder Dilution Software Review Later Stage 242

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 23, 2015

They''re at a similar stage to my investments now out of Brooklyn Bridge backing Tinybop pre-launch, Canary before their Indiegogo pre-sale, and VIXXENN with just an alpha site and a few stylists. If their entry valuation is that much lower because more dollars are in the Series A, they will still be able to make their return.

Post-Money Valuation 60

Post-Money Valuation Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Seed Money 60

Austin Startup

SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

A strong advisor can walk you in the door to the same number of companies as 2–3 new sales hires. I think of this as an early test of the founding team’s sales ability. All of these are challenging sales tasks, and advisors are no different. Never discount the power of a warm intro.

Advisory Board 48

Advisory Board Sweat Equity Marketing Vertical 48

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 15, 2010

Longer-term, enhanced product value begets superior company valuation through your organization’s intellectual property (IP) portfolio. Proper hiring of people with a natural curiosity, open-mindedness, and ability to see the big picture is the way to create and enhance the right mind-set. Value creation. Accountability.

Intellectual Property 122

Intellectual Property IP Valuation .Net 122

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 20, 2015

We’ve had just one market since then and it could confuse one into thinking: every deal finds downstream investors, every company good or bad finds a home, you know anything at all about brazil, india, china or even saas sales, ecommerce or analytics (you know all these in a bull market). You hire too quickly. Your CAC stinks.

Churn Rate 150

Churn Rate Silicon Valley Brazil Valuation 150