Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 3, 2021

To keep you on a positive track with potential investors, I recommend the following logic principles, to balance your passion in presenting your vision of a new business: Make sure your plan includes some business metrics. Equity investors realize that they won’t see any real return until an exit occurs, such as a sale, merger, or IPO.

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Exit Strategy Merger Angel Investor IPO 406

Haystack

DECEMBER 29, 2018

More and more angels will be minted as the 2019 IPO class emerges. Also during this time, the underlying metrics in that business can change positively, potentially trapping companies to accept the initially-agreed upon valuation. In 2017, we learned about how social media feeds were used to surface biased or planted information.

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Technical Review Venture Capital Russia China 165

Gust

JANUARY 31, 2013

The move came as a shock to many in the tech business community, in which we’ve become accustomed to real-time disclosure by company executives through social media. Before the commercial Internet, the primary tools of disclosure included: Prospectus and related registration statement (“S-1″) for an IPO.

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SEC Prospectus United States Technical Review 158

ReadWriteStart

JULY 18, 2011

If you like this kind of advice, check out my coverage of a talk by Paul Palmieri, Co-Founder and CEO of mobile advertising service Millennial Media, titled " Investing in Your Influencers. ". Kedrosky: "In the 90's I was an analyst through all this [tech investment and IPO] madness. You want to build your own IPO and exit.

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Investment Bankers Technical Review Cofounder Due Diligence 153

View from Seed

MARCH 3, 2015

Ellie Mirman was the first marketer hired by the CMO of HubSpot, the Boston-based marketing software startup that IPOed in 2014. NextView Ventures: Thinking back to before anyone knew HubSpot or the company was headed towards an IPO, where did you even start to market the company? NVV: How did you adjust?

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Marketing Sales Cycle Startup CTO Hire 120

Mucker Lab

OCTOBER 12, 2016

So when an investment thesis becomes popular, when a new technology becomes available, when a new media consumption platform becomes dominant, if we believe in the trend, we have to “seed” an investment within the first three years and hope to “harvest” 5–10 years later.

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David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

This structure allows for alignment on the front end, and real-time flexibility for performance metrics,” says Samira Salman , a family office investor and advisor. . Flexible VCs have created structures based on other company performance metrics than revenues, such as profits or founder salaries. Flexible VC 102: Variations.

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Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Austin Startup

SEPTEMBER 29, 2018

Now at Bazaarvoice we have acquired Longboard Media, which in a way concludes our original vision in our first business plan. And even if somehow you avoid it until your IPO, remember that an IPO is a fundraising event itself. But it was the dot-com craze and all of the metrics (eyeballs, pageviews, etc.)

Bootstrapping 52

Bootstrapping IPO Business Model Software Review 52

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 24, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, August 24, 2009 Marching through quicksand I have been spending a lot of time lately talking to people in various media companies: editors and agents, executives, journalists, producers and directors. For established media empires, this is a scary fact.

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San Francisco Lean Technical Review Distribution 113

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 14, 2012

IPO stands for Initial Public Offering, and is the first sale of a private stock to the public. Most recently, the mass media has been concerned with the Facebook IPO. EBITDA, or Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization, is a metric of measurement of cash earnings that is generally non-GAAP.

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Non-disclosure Agreement NDA IPO Covenant 202

Cracking the Code

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

While poised with a limited number of transactions this year, the world of public Cloud Computing and SaaS companies has been marked by two events in the past few months: the acquisition of Omniture by Adobe and the high profile IPO of LogMeIn, a leading provider of PC remote access and support with a very interesting freemium model.

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Software Review Technical Review IPO Cloud 48

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 17, 2016

A few years back, social media hype went to its peaks with the whole focus being laid on Twitter after Facebook. People did not recognize Twitter to be a social media platform to keep in touch with friends. There are so many aspects to analyze,study and correct before going for the IPO. What happened to Twitter?

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Startup Social Media Cofounder IPO 100

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 31, 2010

Expo Intensive rocked, the mainstream media has started writing about the Lean Startup, and - most of all - the movement continues to grow and evolve. Expo Intensive rocked, the mainstream media has started writing about the Lean Startup, and - most of all - the movement continues to grow and evolve.

San Francisco 133

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Software Review 133

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

— Unremarked and unheralded, the balance of power between startup CEOs and their investors has radically changed: IPOs/M&A without a profit (or at times revenue) have become the norm. In the 20th century tech companies and their investors made money through an Initial Public Offering (IPO).

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Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 245

Pascal's View

AUGUST 21, 2011

This time, the debate centers on the “favored few” Social Media venture backed companies that have brought tremendous windfalls to a select group of venture funds and management teams, both pre- and post-IPO. Welcome to the latest passionate debate over the ‘valuation bubble or not?’ question in venture capital.

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Valuation Social Media Media IPO 50

Haystack

DECEMBER 26, 2018

With high levels of public market volatility — the first we’ve seen in the age of social media and true real-time information — it feels like everyone and their grandmom is expecting a downturn. It’s an unusual time in the markets. “We’re in the nth year of an unbelievable bull market!”

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IPO Private Equity Valuation Acquisition 76

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 5, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Wednesday, November 5, 2008 Getting educated about advertising, agencies, and media buyers I see lots of startups whose business plans revolve around selling high-value ad space to brand advertisers. Big-time media buying is a complex ecosystem that includes many entrenched players. 1 comments: Desoja said.

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Advertising San Francisco Media Continuous Deployment 60

Cracking the Code

FEBRUARY 27, 2009

SaaS business metrics: why are they different? Popular Media: the key to viral marketing. About Bessemer Venture Partners: Bessemer Venture Partners is a global investment group with offices in Silicon Valley, Boston, New York, Mumbai, and Tel Aviv. ► 06/17 - 06/24. (1). Save the planet! ► 04/15 - 04/22. (1). Software 2.0:

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Software Review Partner United States Venture Capital 48

Occam's Razor

OCTOBER 14, 2014

Leaders (company is leaving China, our IPO is next week, 1,800 new stores are being opened in 180 days, our new IRR is 8%). Conversion rate is one of those metrics that I strongly encourage you only create benchmarks for from your own data. In my case I'm looking at Social Media (boss LOVES social!), And other such things.

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Analytics Vertical Metrics Web 133

www.huffingtonpost.com

MAY 10, 2011

Set up the metrics first, then youll know if you succeeded. Hiring the best developers is essential because [link] History | Permalink | Share it ecohistorical 0 Fans Follow 01:39 PM on 10/12/2010 Great post, Mariam. It always comes down to the fact that you cant get what you want (or need) unless you know what youre looking for.

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CTO CTO Hire PHP Cofounder 43

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

Scott left the company, which eventually IPO’d and became Internet Brands. And finally, Scott demonstrated his internal management tool for managing the metrics of his business. Competitors: Google (Invite Media) , MediaMath , X+1. If you’re an entrepreneur make sure you watch the video for that segment alone.

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San Francisco Venture Capital Analytics Government 248

K9 Ventures

OCTOBER 10, 2017

One of the people I respect the most in the VC/PE media ecosystem is Dan Primack. If the Micro-VCs are looking for Series A-like metrics, what does a company do when it’s just getting started? Because of this the first mention of a company in the press/media is usually concurrent with their Seed round financing announcement.

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Seed Stage Finance Later Stage Equity 82

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 14, 2009

Twitter about it or post it to a social media site? ► August (2) SXSW Case Study: SlideShare goes freemium ► July (4) Case Study: kaChing, Anatomy of a Pivot Some IPO speculation Founder personalities and the “first-class man&# th. Would you be willing to link to the Master Class info page from your blog?

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Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment Software Review 60

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2022

He talks in detail about ten of the key challenges that Facebook faced in their growth, to move from a tiny social media upstart to one of the most successful companies in the world. Pick a single metric that is the focus for all growth. A focus on looking good as an acquisition or IPO candidate has undermined many startups.

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Startup Social Media India Acquisition 361

Growthink Blog

APRIL 15, 2015

For those in the bubble camp, Domo is “ Tech Unicorn ,” a recent start-up worth, either through a financing, an acquisition or IPO, more than $1 billion usually without any meaningful profits to speak of and thus instead valued via reasonings and justifications far outside of the pale of traditional finance and accounting.

Valuation 48

Valuation Venture Capital Finance Acquisition 48

VC Cafe

JANUARY 14, 2022

There are two main forms of exits for startups: trade sale/M&A or IPO. SPACs had their moment in the sun in 2021, with a record number of companies choosing to go public using the SPACs in favour of traditional IPOs. Several discussions on social media have founders asking if they should hedge their FOREX risk.

Technical Review 159

Technical Review Lock-up Period South Korea 159

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 16, 2010

Designed for large businesses, the channels let a company share several types of documents, brand the channel with their own design elements, and then include display advertising, contest promotions, blog aggregation, social media integration and metrics reporting. The idea seemed to SlideShare to be a natural direction.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco Lean Analytics Continuous Deployment 167

Seeing Both Sides

APRIL 12, 2012

When they get customers, they are told to show engagement metrics. When they show engagement metrics, they are told to run some monetization experiments. Isn't there plenty of euphoria and "animal spirits" to go around with the IPO market returning, marquee acquisitions (e.g.,

IPO 44

IPO Metrics Venture Capital Social Media 44

David Teten

MARCH 2, 2013

The Kauffman Foundation points out several reasons why they choose to keep pouring capital into the industry: the J-curve narrative, VC investment allocation mandates (which should disproportionally benefit large funds), the “relationship business” philosophy, and potentially misleading return metrics (such as IRR).

LP 114

LP Securities and Exchange Commission Silicon Valley Venture Capital 114

crowdSPRING Blog

APRIL 11, 2014

These posts and videos are about logo design , web design , startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Google, Apple or IPO: What’s Next for Square? | Benchmarking Box’s S-1: How 7 Key SaaS Metrics Stack Up | by Thomas Tunguz - crowdspring.co/1dysrz8. Re/code - crowdspring.co/1embSqM.

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Social Media Small Business Design Media 94

Gust

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Never missing an opportunity for a good war story, I’d like to revisit one high-profile transaction, the $650 million acquisition of MySpace by Fox Interactive Media in 2005, on which I spent many sleepless nights along with the rest of the deal team. Part of the deal was bringing in a new CEO, Richard Rosenblatt.

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Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Merger Vesting 98

Up and Running

MAY 1, 2014

Milestones and Metrics. Or perhaps in traditional media? Getting the media to cover you can be a great way to reach your customers. Social Media. These days, having a social media presence is essentially a requirement for the vast majority of businesses. Milestones and Metrics. Read more ». Read more ».

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Business Plan Forecast Balance Sheet Distribution 163

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

In an over-funding environment companies are encouraged to eschew revenues in a land grab to acquire eyeballs, clicks, page views or whatever other vanity metrics give VCs the false comfort that they’re sitting on a gold mine. IPO markets had burned an entire cycle of retail stock investors and many institutional investors to boot.

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Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

Cracking the Code

FEBRUARY 12, 2007

Attendees included Blue Nile , Postini , LinkedIn , Lifelock , Wize , Sparter , Zopa , Revver , Wikia , Flock , Vimo , Delivery Agent , Gerson Lehrman Group , Pure Networks , Zensys , Summit , T3Ci , Endeca and Nominum - a wide spectrum of companies, both in terms of stage (very early to pre-IPO) and sectors (consumer internet, software, chipsets.).

Software Review 48

Software Review SEM Marketing Las Vegas 48

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 15, 2019

He talks in detail about ten of the key challenges that Facebook faced in their growth, to move from a tiny social media upstart to one of the most successful companies in the world. Pick a single metric that is the focus for all growth. A focus on looking good as an acquisition or IPO candidate has undermined many startups.

Social Media 218

Social Media India Acquisition China 218

YoungUpstarts

MAY 5, 2017

Your business isn’t Facebook, but you certainly can learn from the social-media titan by examining how it operates — when things are going well, and not so well. Decide On, and Obsess About, Your North Star Metric. A North Star Metric is the single number that’s most indicative of how good a job a company is doing for its customers.

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Silicon Valley IPO Metrics Global 150

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 6, 2009

The first event is January 21, and is being put on by Dealmaker Media as part of their Strategy Series events: In the Trenches: Cutting Costs in a Tight Economy. Startup Visa update ► February (5) Kiwi lean startup + Australia next Why diversity matters (the meritocracy business) Beware of Vanity Metrics (for Harvard Business Rev.

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San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean DC 60