Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 15, 2010

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Thursday, July 15, 2010 Some IPO speculation Inspired by Steve Blank’s post today about the “lost decade&# of IPO’s , I’d like to make some predictions. The fact that IPO’s are disappearing makes intuitive sense to me. Let me be clear: Steve is the historian.

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IPO San Francisco Lean Silicon Valley 166

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 26, 2009

Its easy to take Silicon Valley for granted. Ive written a little bit about the origins of Silicon Valley because I think its important for us to understand how we got here in order to make sure we preserve what is best about our community. But theres no denying the level of support for entrepreneurs that we enjoy.

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San Francisco Silicon Valley Startup Lean 113

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

In 2001 companies IPO’d very quickly if they were working, by 2011 IPOs had slowed down to the point that in 2013 Aileen Lee of Cowboy Ventures astutely called billion-dollar outcomes “unicorns.” The legends of Silicon Valley?—?two How little we all knew how ironic that term would become but has nonetheless endured.

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Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Venture Capital Early Stage 471

Agile VC

JUNE 5, 2011

So Groupon obviously filed their S-1 the other day to formally being the IPO process. It also puts another chink in the armor of the meme that monster internet companies can only be built in Silicon Valley (LivingSocial, Kayak, Gilt Groupe, CSN Stores, et al doing damage here too). AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups.

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Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 2, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Saturday, August 2, 2008 Paul Graham on fundraising I have found no better primer on the current realities of starting a new technology company in a startup hub like Silicon Valley than Paul Grahams essays. but rest assured they would be. No departments The Five Whys for Startups (for Harvard Business R.

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San Francisco Software Review Technical Review Continuous Deployment 125

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 11, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, November 11, 2008 Where did Silicon Valley come from? I think the absolute best reading on this subject is a book called Regional Advantage: Culture and Competition in Silicon Valley and Route 128 by AnnaLee Saxenian. And what were they doing beforehand?

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Silicon Valley San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 68

Reid Hoffman

DECEMBER 10, 2020

With Airbnb’s IPO, I thought the time was right to take a look back at the past decade (Greylock led Airbnb’s Series A in November 2010) and reflect on what I learned from the journey. it took years for Airbnb’s metrics to really start accelerating. This essay is based on a Greymatter podcast episode, which you can listen to here.

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Hosting Hockey Stick IPO Silicon Valley 69

Sophia Perl of Wisdom

JULY 18, 2011

I liked hearing the who’s who of Silicon Valley in his stories, but more importantly he had really good take aways. Eventbrite is very well known in the Silicon Valley and continues to grow. Tip: Netflix is extremely well run company, very quantitative using metrics, disciplined in how much they spend.

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Cofounder Technical Cofounder Silicon Valley San Francisco 49

500hats.com

AUGUST 2, 2012

note: apologies in advance for the west coast bias; i’m in silicon valley). Mega VC has focused on the challenges of the post-SarbOx IPO market in the US, and has discovered opportunity in offering larger amounts of growth capital ($10-100M+) to private companies with reduced access to public markets.

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Silicon Valley Early Stage Venture Capital Valuation 74

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 31, 2010

Id like to call special attention to Kurt Carr s perspective (lets hope he finishes his five-part series): Now that I’m back in Ohio (I was one of the token foreigners in a room full of Silicon Valley residents), I have found myself reliving and rethinking much of what I saw there.

San Francisco 133

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Software Review 133

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 6, 2008

► 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. The four kinds of work, and how to get them done: The four kinds of work, and how to get them done: Five Whys Where did Silicon Valley come from?

Agile 76

Agile San Francisco Software Review Continuous Deployment 76

The Equity Kicker

OCTOBER 8, 2012

A company making $1000 a month (a typical number early in YC) and growing at 1% a week will 4 years later be making $7900 a month, which is less than a good programmer makes in salary in Silicon Valley. Growth is the main driver of value in our companies and it is what makes them exciting to IPO investors and acquirers.

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Silicon Valley IPO eCommerce Valuation 149

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 24, 2009

Despite all the energy invested in talking to authors about the size of their platform, very few gatekeepers have a rigorous set of metrics for measuring it. The problem is that there are no other metrics they can look at to judge the content of a book to know if it’s worth reviewing. Is that a lot? In that I see opportunity.

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Distribution 113

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 17, 2008

Growth - when you have existing customers, the pressure is on to grow your key metrics day-in day-out. ► 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. What is customer development?

San Francisco 88

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 88

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 4, 2008

► 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. The four kinds of work, and how to get them done: The four kinds of work, and how to get them done: Five Whys Where did Silicon Valley come from?

Lean 102

Lean San Francisco Agile Continuous Deployment 102

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 17, 2009

The problem is that the most authentic innovators and entrepreneurs are in the Valley. I want more than anything to come to Silicon Valley after I graduate and join the vibrant ecosystem. I plan to apply these models to my own ventures, especially within new contexts separate from software and web development.

Lean 76

Lean San Francisco Web Continuous Deployment 76

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 7, 2008

► 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. The four kinds of work, and how to get them done: The four kinds of work, and how to get them done: Five Whys Where did Silicon Valley come from?

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Demand San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 167

Cracking the Code

FEBRUARY 27, 2009

About Bessemer Venture Partners: Bessemer Venture Partners is a global investment group with offices in Silicon Valley, Boston, New York, Mumbai, and Tel Aviv. SaaS business metrics: why are they different? The 10 laws of SaaS unveiled at Bessemer CEO Summi. ► 01/27 - 02/03. (1). Happy New Year 2008! ► 2007. (10).

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Software Review Partner United States Venture Capital 48

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 22, 2009

Im not offering extensive studies or research to support this conclusion; the evidence from my peers right here in the innovation capital of America, Silicon Valley, is absolutely overwhelming. Asked to help, I am confident that Silicon Valley and every other innovation center will step up. They are nerds.

Programming 143

Programming San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 143

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 9, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, June 9, 2009 The Lean Startup Tokyo edition I had a blast speaking at Startonomics Tokyo , which was organized to foster ties between the startup cultures in Japan and Silicon Valley. It was an eye-opening day, and a great crowd to present to. Startup Lessons Learned - the Conference (April 23.

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Lean San Francisco Japan Continuous Deployment 60

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

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 18, 2008

► 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. The four kinds of work, and how to get them done: The four kinds of work, and how to get them done: Five Whys Where did Silicon Valley come from?

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San Francisco Continuous Deployment Lean DC 60

Cracking the Code

JANUARY 19, 2016

Even in 2006, when I joined Bessemer Venture Partners, there was still a lot of skepticism in the Silicon Valley around SaaS (one of my first blog post in 2006 was titled: “W hy I disagree with Tony Zingale — CEO of Mercury Interactive — on the future of SaaS "). My SaaS focus at Accel Partners is the natural continuity of this path.

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Feld Thoughts

APRIL 17, 2015

” “The only place to build a tech company is in Silicon Valley.” At one point that fund was up over 2x on paper (TVPI for those of you that like names for the different VC metrics.) . “There is no bubble.” ” “Raise as much money as you can.” ” Whatever. Too bad for us.

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Venture Capital Silicon Valley New York IPO 70

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 8, 2008

► 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. The four kinds of work, and how to get them done: The four kinds of work, and how to get them done: Five Whys Where did Silicon Valley come from?

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Customer Development Developer San Francisco Customer 168

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 20, 2010

Heres an excerpt: Philosophy Helps Start-Ups Move Faster - WSJ.com Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and venture capitalists often churn out how-to business books and fancy themselves as management gurus, but few see their methodologies adopted. Eric Ries is experiencing something different. Eric Ries is experiencing something different.

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Lean San Francisco Arlington Continuous Deployment 153

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 14, 2009

Using examples drawn from his own experiences in the startup hub of Silicon Valley, Eric Ries unravels the myths and misconceptions that guide most startups, and paints a picture of a new way forward for the industry. The visionary’s lament The Superbowl ad test Lo, my 57692 subscribers, who are you?

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Lean San Francisco Continuous Deployment Software Review 60

David Teten

MARCH 2, 2013

See the Techcrunch posts by my Partner John Frankel and Professor Robert Wiltbank , my recent post on the quality of angel returns data , as well as reports from the Silicon Valley Bank and Kauffman Foundation. Counting IPOs gets us only a short distance to an Answer. This is a difficult question to study.”.

LP 114

LP Securities and Exchange Commission Silicon Valley Venture Capital 114

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015

Some will demonstrate strategically justifiable metrics and have fantastic ‘up round’ exits; others may see liquidation preferences kick in which will negatively impact founders and employees; others may fulfill the adage “IPO is the new down round” , which has been the case for more than half of the public companies on our list.

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Liquidation Preference Burn Rate Balance Sheet .Net 70

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 4, 2009

If youre used to pitching your company in a startup hub, like here in Silicon Valley, you may suffer from a debilitating disease: the inability to describe your product to normal people. It also gives you insight into their language. This is important, especially if you are a very early stage company.

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San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 68

Startup Lessons Learned

MARCH 9, 2010

The event is being produced in partnership with Charles Hudson, who puts on many of Silicon Valleys top events, including the forthcoming Freemium Summit. The event is being produced in partnership with Charles Hudson, who puts on many of Silicon Valleys top events, including the forthcoming Freemium Summit.

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San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment Startup 151

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. It is also now evident that these inflated valuations have not proven to be sustainable in the public markets.

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Valuation Social Media Media IPO 50

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 7, 2010

This is especially true if you live outside the echo chamber of Silicon Valley. This is especially true if you live outside the echo chamber of Silicon Valley. Whether youre a US citizen or an immigrant, entrepreneur or investor, founder or employee, theres something you can do. There are four ways to get involved below.

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San Francisco DC Startup Lean 118

Cracking the Code

MARCH 28, 2022

The cloud IPO market has also been very active with 32 IPOs vs. 17 in 2020. It’s worth noting though that while the number of IPOs increased, the companies were smaller and raised less capital than those last year. 60% of the cloud IPOs had a market cap of $5B+ vs. only 28% this year. in Sept 2020. In 2020, c.

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abovethecrowd.com

APRIL 20, 2016

The pressures of lofty paper valuations, massive burn rates (and the subsequent need for more cash), and unprecedented low levels of IPOs and M&A, have created a complex and unique circumstance which many Unicorn CEOs and investors are ill-prepared to navigate. In Q1 of 2016 there were zero VC-backed technology IPOs.

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IPO Term Sheet Silicon Valley Valuation 40

Austin Startup

MARCH 2, 2019

I made very few edits to the original post, mostly in the area of readability and grammar (not in substance of content): Spurred on by my recent Lucky7 post on how capital efficient Bazaarvoice was on its path to IPO , two friends sent me great posts this week on entrepreneurship and risk. I saw this movie in Silicon Valley?—?where

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Advisory Board Cofounder Greece Bootstrapping 51

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 9, 2020

This was supposed to be Airbnb's biggest year by many measures, including its IPO, which was one of the most anticipated since the 2008 financial crisis. 5:01) Brian's thoughts on the human dimension to his approach and how that sets him apart in Silicon Valley. (6:06) People, not just metrics. Broadly shared prosperity.

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Silicon Valley Hosting Cofounder Employee 60