Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2022

Today the rate of startups going public (IPO – Initial Public Offering) is finally up from the dead zone of the last two decades, and is now double the rate back in 1999. Smart entrepreneurs are now starting to look at this option again, as well as the challenges of running a public company.

IPO 245

IPO SEC Prospectus Startup 245

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2023

For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested. Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product. The final product works great, and all the early users love it.”

Angel Investor 313

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 313

ReadWriteStart

FEBRUARY 13, 2020

For most startups, it’s no secret that a significant part of their long-term plans is to go public and become the next market darling for investors. Here are three IPO lessons and what they hold for today’s startups. As we crept closer and closer to the IPO date, however, that number kept getting revised downward.

IPO 147

IPO Startup Stock Initial Public Offering 147

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2022

Thus I’m getting more questions on new mechanisms, like crowd funding, or going public through the side door as a reverse merger. Being a public company isn’t cheap or easy. Some people believe that reverse shell mergers may soon become the preferred IPO approach for emerging high-growth companies.

Merger 261

Merger OTC IPO Due Diligence 261

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

Today the rate of startups going public (IPO – Initial Public Offering) is up from the dead zone, but is still less than half the rate of 15 years ago. Smart entrepreneurs now avoid this option like the plague, due to its unpredictability and the challenges of running a public company.

IPO 120

IPO SEC Prospectus Startup 120

VC Cafe

MARCH 11, 2010

T aking a company through an initial public offering (IPO) is not an easy task. It’s also an uncertain exit for the entrepreneurs, as they are typically restricted to sell any of their stock in the first 180 days following the IPO, and even then they can sell no more than 1% of stock a month.

IPO 68

IPO SEC Initial Public Offering Stock 68

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2013

This requires a visible focus on the company’s revenue model, the costs to get there, and cash on hand. Angels expect at least a working prototype and a hint of market acceptance (traction) before investing. That means merger and acquisition (M&A), not initial public offering (IPO). Scalability.

Cram Down 269

Cram Down Angel Investor Intellectual Property Venture Capital 269

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2020

For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested. Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product. The final product works great, and all the early users love it.”

Angel Investor 370

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 370

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2013

In the old days, every entrepreneur dreamed of someday taking their startup public, and making it a multi-national powerhouse. In my view, the key reasons that IPOs have lost their luster from an entrepreneur and investor perspective include the following: The US IPO process seems broken. Going public is an expensive process.

IPO 242

IPO SEC Prospectus Startup 242

VC Cafe

JANUARY 15, 2024

With the IPO window closed, growth funding severely dwindled and multiples down as a result of the public market, unicorns face tough choices in 2024. With limited options for liquidity (M&A or IPO) and significantly less growth capital, unicorns face an uncertain future. trillion, according to CB Insights.

IPO 88

IPO Valuation Private Equity 88

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2019

Thus I’m getting more questions on new mechanisms, like crowd funding, or going public through the side door as a reverse merger. Being a public company isn’t cheap or easy. Some people believe that reverse shell mergers may soon become the preferred IPO approach for emerging high-growth companies.

Merger 303

Merger OTC IPO Due Diligence 303

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2011

It has been at least a decade since going public via an Initial Public Offering (IPO) has been considered a credible exit strategy for startups. Usually a small company can sell about 20 percent of its stock in an IPO. The market is moving back up, but slowly. The market is moving back up, but slowly.

IPO 223

IPO Social Media Media Exit Strategy 223

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2018

Thus I’m getting more questions on new mechanisms, like crowd funding, or going public through the side door as a reverse merger. Being a public company isn’t cheap or easy. A PwC survey averages the burden of public companies at $1.5M Is your startup really ready to play in the corporate world?

Merger 198

Merger OTC IPO Due Diligence 198

Version One Ventures

OCTOBER 7, 2014

At first glance, Hubspot and Moz are very similar companies: both are popular marketing platforms, use web-based subscription models, and primarily target the SMB market (although larger brands use both). However, as Scott Krager points out in his post, the companies have vastly different approaches for generating revenue.

Initial Public Offering 148

Initial Public Offering IPO SEC Valuation 148

YoungUpstarts

MAY 31, 2016

In order to be successful as an innovative company, never mind a start-up or small entrepreneurial company, it’s essential to be able to identify the few truly strategic initiatives that will most favorably impact the top revenue line. Is a marketing plan important? Is high yield important? Are promotional materials important?

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Leadership Early Stage Initial Public Offering 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 3, 2014

A reverse merger is the acquisition of an already public company (usually a dormant shell) to avoid the Initial Public Offering (IPO) process and cost, to quickly get your startup on a public exchange for fund raising through visibility and selling stock. Being a public company isn’t cheap or easy.

Merger 246

Merger OTC IPO Stock 246

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2018

For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested. Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product. The final product works great, and all the early users love it.”

Angel Investor 184

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 184

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 5, 2012

"A lot of the noise in the market right now is about bringing back irresponsible IPOs. Our objective is to bring back quality IPOs, the kind that we had in the late '80s and the early '90s.". We had institutional public IPO buyers on the task force, they got two votes. (I It was a diverse group.".

IPO 118

IPO SEC Silicon Valley Startup 118

Version One Ventures

OCTOBER 7, 2014

At first glance, Hubspot and Moz are very similar companies: both are popular marketing platforms, use web-based subscription models, and primarily target the SMB market (although larger brands use both). However, as Scott Krager points out in his post, the companies have vastly different approaches for generating revenue.

Initial Public Offering 78

Initial Public Offering IPO SEC Valuation 78

Steve Blank

MARCH 18, 2011

Dot.com Bubble ( 1995-2000): “ Anything goes” as public markets clamor for ideas, vague promises of future growth, and IPOs happen absent regard for history or profitability. They taught you about customers, markets and profits. The reward for doing so was a liquidity event via an Initial Public Offering.

Internet 334

Internet IPO Silicon Valley Agile 334

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2012

Assuming your startup takes off, you will probably find that the fun is gone by the time you reach 50 employees, or a few million in revenue. For bigger companies, it’s a more efficient and quicker way to grow their revenue than creating new products organically. Initial Public Offering (IPO).

Exit Strategy 241

Exit Strategy Initial Public Offering IPO Startup 241

Steve Blank

JUNE 15, 2011

Today, the signs of the new bubble are the Linked-In initial public offering (IPO), Facebook’s stratospheric valuation and the rapid rise of early-stage startup valuation. Long before others, they saw that these applications could have hundreds of millions of users with “off the chart&# revenue and profits.

Silicon Valley 328

Silicon Valley Stealth Valuation Mississippi 328

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2014

For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested. Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product. The final product works great, and all the early users love it.”

Angel Investor 232

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 232

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 15, 2015

Thus I’m getting more questions on new mechanisms, like crowd funding, or going public through the backdoor as a reverse merger. Being a public company isn’t cheap or easy. Experts estimate the burden of public companies at up to $1M a year. Is your startup really ready to play in the corporate world?

Merger 120

Merger OTC IPO Due Diligence 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 5, 2011

Assuming your startup takes off, you will probably find that the fun is gone by the time you reach 50 employees, or a few million in revenue. For bigger companies, it’s a more efficient and quicker way to grow their revenue than creating new products organically. Initial Public Offering (IPO).

Exit Strategy 231

Exit Strategy Initial Public Offering Startup IPO 231

Version One Ventures

JUNE 29, 2017

As one can imagine, the media commentary was not pretty, calling the IPO a disappointment , the stock stale out of the box , and lamenting that the stock forgot to pop. What I missed in most of this commentary was the fact that Matt Salzberg and his team had created a company with over $800m in revenues and a $2b valuation in a short 5 (!)

IPO 143

IPO Stock Valuation Business Model 143

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2016

For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested. Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product. The final product works great, and all the early users love it.”

Matching 120

Matching Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers 120

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2012

At this stage, your startup better be selling a commercial offering, have price and cost validated, with significant customer sales and a real revenue stream. Companies at this stage must have a large market, good traction, and be focused on scaling infrastructure and market adoption. Growth stage. Exit stage.

Investment Bankers 241

Investment Bankers Venture Capital Startup Initial Public Offering 241

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 13, 2010

At this stage, your startup better be selling a commercial offering, have price and cost validated, with significant customer sales and a real revenue stream. Companies at this stage must have a large market, good traction, and be focused on scaling infrastructure and market adoption. Growth stage. Exit stage.

Investment Bankers 231

Investment Bankers Venture Capital Startup Initial Public Offering 231

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 11, 2015

This compensation can come in the form of a stock option , a stock appreciation right, or a similar financial instrument, which can potentially be quite lucrative for employees at the time of a merger, acquisition or initial public offering (IPO). A company can have value, even if there is no current income or revenue.

Valuation 100

Valuation Stock Options CPA Merger 100

Gust

NOVEMBER 22, 2011

At this stage, your startup better be selling a commercial offering, have price and cost validated, with significant customer sales and a real revenue stream. Companies at this stage must have a large market, good traction, and be focused on scaling infrastructure and market adoption. Growth stage. Exit stage.

Venture Capital 171

Venture Capital Investment Bankers Angel Investor Initial Public Offering 171

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 2, 2012

IPOs by year, 1980-2011, with pre-IPO last 12-month sales less than (small firms) or greater than (large firms) $50 million (2009 purchasing power). The real truth is, since the "Internet bubble" burst in 2001, initial public offerings have not resumed the vitality levels of the late 1980s, let alone the boom years of the '90s.

IPO 121

IPO Startup Florida Seed Capital 121

Reid Hoffman

MARCH 19, 2019

There are times when small and slow is the right strategy for a specific market opportunity. When the market conditions are right, you should blitzscale for the benefit of all stakeholders: customers, employees, investors, and society. Blitzscaling is a response to market dynamics, not the cause.

Cofounder 28

Cofounder Business Model IPO Non-Compete 28

online.wsj.com

SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Loading… Markets. Loading… Market Data. Media & Marketing. Marketing & Strategy. If failure is defined as failing to see the projected return on investment—say, a specific revenue growth rate or date to break even on cash flow—then more than 95% of start-ups fail, based on Mr. Ghoshs research.

Venture Capital 107

Venture Capital Software Review Rhode Island North Dakota 107

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 2, 2018

Tiny markets may excite your passion but won’t sustain a business or leave you with a long-term positive legacy. Investors look for a team with business, financial, marketing, and operational skills, as well as a social passion. Includes balanced and hard-hitting marketing and sales.

Intellectual Property 48

Intellectual Property Initial Public Offering Merger Acquisition 48

Version One Ventures

JULY 20, 2015

Our rule of thumb is that marketplaces at scale are valued at roughly 1x annualized GMV (typically about 6-8x annual revenue). Consensus estimate of approximately $270M for 2015 revenue. Etsy had a market cap of about $2.22B as of July 20, with a revenue multiple of 8.2 immediately following its IPO). for 2015 GMV.

Valuation 60

Valuation Early Stage IPO eCommerce 60

Growthink Blog

MAY 23, 2011

With this capital, the company propels itself to $50 million+ in revenues, and to either a sale to a strategic acquirer or to an initial public offering. Technical progress and market traction are much slower and cost a lot more than anticipated. There are a lot of dark, hard days. read more.

Angel Investor 112

Angel Investor Venture Capital Sweat Equity Cram Down 112