Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2022

In the old days, every entrepreneur planned on taking their startup public, and making it big. 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.

IPO 245

IPO SEC Prospectus Startup 245

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

In the old days, every entrepreneur dreamed of easily taking their startup public, and making it big. 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. Going public is an expensive process.

IPO 120

IPO SEC Prospectus Startup 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2013

Since Angel investors put money into 60 times as many companies as venture capital funds, according to Wikipedia, early-stage startups need to focus first on the key thresholds that drive these investment decisions. Angel investors look for prior domain and startup experience. The same hold true for venture capital investors.

Cram Down 269

Cram Down Angel Investor Intellectual Property Venture Capital 269

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. The value was about $100 billion; then, it was rounded down to the IPO valuation itself.

IPO 147

IPO Startup Stock Initial Public Offering 147

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2022

With the current volatile economy, as an active startup mentor, I’m seeing a new surge of entrepreneurs and startups, with the commensurate scramble for funding. Thus I’m getting more questions on new mechanisms, like crowd funding, or going public through the side door as a reverse merger.

Merger 261

Merger OTC IPO Due Diligence 261

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2023

Luckily, not all investors are looking for the same thing, so it pays to know what type of investors are most interested in what your startup brings to the table. The key is understanding how potential investors see you, and especially how they view the maturity stage of your startup. Congratulations!

Angel Investor 313

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 313

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2020

Luckily, not all investors are looking for the same thing, so it pays to know what type of investors are most interested in what your startup brings to the table. The key is understanding how potential investors see you, and especially how they view the maturity stage of your startup. Congratulations!

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. According to an Ernst & Young report , the number of startups that have gone public in the US over the past decade is down about 75% from the previous decade, to about 10% of startup exits.

IPO 242

IPO SEC Prospectus Startup 242

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2019

With the current strong economy, as an active startup mentor, I’m seeing a new surge of entrepreneurs and startups, with the commensurate scramble for funding. Thus I’m getting more questions on new mechanisms, like crowd funding, or going public through the side door as a reverse merger.

Merger 303

Merger OTC IPO Due Diligence 303

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

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. Draper III, in his new book titled “ The Startup Game.” Usually a small company can sell about 20 percent of its stock in an IPO. How’s the timing?

IPO 223

IPO Social Media Media Exit Strategy 223

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 3, 2014

With the uptick in the economy, as an active startup mentor, I’m seeing a new surge of entrepreneurs and startups, with the commensurate scramble for funding. Being a public company isn’t cheap or easy. Is your startup really ready to play in the corporate world? Reverse mergers may not get your startup on the Nasdaq.

Merger 246

Merger OTC IPO Stock 246

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2018

With the current strong economy, as an active startup mentor, I’m seeing a new surge of entrepreneurs and startups, with the commensurate scramble for funding. Thus I’m getting more questions on new mechanisms, like crowd funding, or going public through the side door as a reverse merger.

Merger 198

Merger OTC IPO Due Diligence 198

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2014

Luckily, not all investors are looking for the same thing, so it pays to know what type of investors are most interested in what your startup brings to the table. The key is understanding how potential investors see you, and especially how they view the maturity stage of your startup. Congratulations!

Angel Investor 232

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 232

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2012

If you startup is your dream, why would you want to think about an exit? 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. If your startup was less than a success, you’ll definitely want to erase it from memory.

Exit Strategy 241

Exit Strategy Initial Public Offering IPO Startup 241

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2018

Luckily, not all investors are looking for the same thing, so it pays to know what type of investors are most interested in what your startup brings to the table. The key is understanding how potential investors see you, and especially how they view the maturity stage of your startup. Congratulations!

Angel Investor 184

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 184

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 5, 2011

If you startup is your dream, why would you want to think about an exit? 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. If your startup was less than a success, you’ll definitely want to erase it from memory.

Exit Strategy 231

Exit Strategy Initial Public Offering Startup IPO 231

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.". Treasury Department assembled 17 leaders of the startup business investment community, under the auspices of its Access to Capital Conference.

IPO 118

IPO SEC Silicon Valley Startup 118

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2012

Different types of investors look for startups at different levels of maturity. If your startup is at the wrong stage for the investor you are approaching, fishing for money is a waste of time for both of you. You also will find that the stage your startup is in dictates where you go to seek funding. Early or embryonic stage.

Investment Bankers 241

Investment Bankers Venture Capital Startup Initial Public Offering 241

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2016

Luckily, not all investors are looking for the same thing, so it pays to know what type of investors are most interested in what your startup brings to the table. The key is understanding how potential investors see you, and especially how they view the maturity stage of your startup. Congratulations!

Matching 120

Matching Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers 120

Steve Blank

MARCH 18, 2011

What are they, how do they differ and what can startup do to take advantage of them? Paths to Liquidity: a quick history of the four waves of startup investing. The Golden Age (1970 – 1995): Build a growing business with a consistently profitable track record (after at least 5 quarters,) and go public when it’s time.

Internet 334

Internet IPO Silicon Valley Agile 334

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 15, 2015

With the uptick in the economy, as an active startup mentor, I’m seeing a new surge of entrepreneurs and startups, with the commensurate scramble for funding. Thus I’m getting more questions on new mechanisms, like crowd funding, or going public through the backdoor as a reverse merger.

Merger 120

Merger OTC IPO Due Diligence 120

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 13, 2010

Different types of investors look for startups at different levels of maturity. If your startup is at the wrong stage for the investor you are approaching, the courting is a waste of time for both of you. You also will find that the stage your startup is in dictates where you go to seek funding. Early or embryonic stage.

Investment Bankers 231

Investment Bankers Venture Capital Startup Initial Public Offering 231

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. VCs who understood the ubiquity, pervasiveness and ultimate profitability of these startups doubled-down on their investments.

Silicon Valley 328

Silicon Valley Stealth Valuation Mississippi 328

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 11, 2015

But it’s an important consideration, especially for companies that plan to offer alternative compensation such as employee stock options, which will usually require a 409A valuation. Startup companies are often cash poor and have little in the form of current monetary compensation to offer their employees.

Valuation 100

Valuation Stock Options CPA Merger 100

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

Gust

NOVEMBER 22, 2011

Different types of investors look for startups at different levels of maturity. If your startup is at the wrong stage for the investor you are approaching, fishing for money is a waste of time for both of you. You also will find that the stage your startup is in dictates where you go to seek funding. Early or embryonic stage.

Venture Capital 171

Venture Capital Investment Bankers Angel Investor Initial Public Offering 171

Version One Ventures

JULY 20, 2015

I often get asked about how to determine the valuation for a marketplace startup that is starting to scale. 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. immediately following its IPO).

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. Second, look for companies that have short and realistic liquidity (exit, IPO) timelines. It is often a double-edged and very sharp sword. read more.

Angel Investor 112

Angel Investor Venture Capital Sweat Equity Cram Down 112

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 2, 2018

Social value alone is not normally a sustainable advantage for a startup with limited resources, since big players can jump in with more money to replicate your social value and add more innovation. Tiny markets may excite your passion but won’t sustain a business or leave you with a long-term positive legacy.

Intellectual Property 48

Intellectual Property Initial Public Offering Merger Acquisition 48

Reid Hoffman

MARCH 19, 2019

And from a financial perspective, any investor would be better off buying stock in Amazon than buying and share of a corner bookshop; if you invested $100 in Amazon’s 1997 initial public offering (IPO), those shares would have been worth about $120,000 in 2018. The second is a lack of operational scalability.

Cofounder 28

Cofounder Business Model IPO Non-Compete 28