VC Cafe

JANUARY 24, 2021

Social commerce is a thing – Over 76M people in the US will make a purchase via a social network at least once this year (38.4% of US social network users) according to Falcon.io’s 2021 digital marketing trends. Snap and Tiktok fighting for users (source: eMarketer ). Immersive ar/vr/xr.

Technical Review 207

Technical Review Audio Forecast Social Media 207

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

When you think about the trends of faster-growing startups due to social networking, credit card enable and mobile first consumers – the reality is that many startups are becoming very large financially before needing to go public. This is a structural shift in our industry few have talked about publicly. The iPhone was released.

Technical Review 398

Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 398

View from Seed

OCTOBER 11, 2022

As someone who has seen multiple companies go from concept to $1B scale (and IPO), her experience and insight will be invaluable to the founders we work with. This is intentional, so that we can serve founders better while also enjoying the breadth of portfolio and network effects that are valuable in this business.

Cofounder 156

Cofounder San Francisco Portfolio Limited Partner 156

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 3, 2019

They get data from traditional sources, such as analysts and industry publications, but they’re also connected with social media, peer networks and review sites. Three years later their IPO valued the company at more than $2 billion.

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B2B Sales Cycle Technical Review IPO 170

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. In 1999, there were 486 IPOs nationwide; just 10 years later, in 2009, there were only 63. How’s the timing?

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IPO Social Media Media Exit Strategy 223

Start Up Blog

MAY 13, 2019

Last Friday night, I did a TV interview on ABC regarding Uber’s long awaited IPO. An IPO is when a company first becomes a publicly traded stock that anyone can buy and hold. Amazon IPO 1997 – 2 years after it was founded. Google IPO 2004 – 5 years after it was founded.

IPO 48

IPO Valuation Stock Cost 48

Haystack

DECEMBER 29, 2018

More and more angels will be minted as the 2019 IPO class emerges. The trend now seems to be bending toward incentivizing network participation , where those who see the opportunity will want to not just invest in a new network, but put their time and resources into participating by running nodes themselves.

Technical Review 165

Technical Review Venture Capital Russia China 165

View from Seed

MARCH 24, 2021

“At some point, an entrepreneur begins to exhaust her network, and her network’s network, and the incremental hours devoted to fundraising will begin to yield less capital raised than the previous.” Why Do Consumer IPOs and B2B IPOs Get Treated Differently? ” (Lee Hower). ” (David Beisel).

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Seed Stage Hiring IPO Analytics 177

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 21, 2009

Projected IPOs for 2009 are an embarrassing 10 total deals, down from 86 just 2 years ago (it was 265 in the go-go years of 99-00) but at least up from 6 in 2008. Fred Wilson supports Montgomery’s view in this thoughtful post on the return of the tech IPO market.

Technical Review 241

Technical Review IPO Southern California Venture Capital 241

YoungUpstarts

MAY 6, 2019

Networking. You won’t make it big unless you have a network. A network of investors to back you, a bench of mentors to give you a kick, and a network of support group i.e. friends, family, that stays with you while you launch the product in the market. There is a complete process to go for an IPO. Acquisition.

Startup 113

Startup Technical Cofounder Merger Early Stage 113

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 8, 2012

With close to 900 million users and an upcoming IPO , Facebook is ruling the web as the social network of choice. Providing truckloads of tips, hints and useful advice, it shares how companies should behave themselves on social networks and what they can do to build communities, strengthen their reputations, and increase sales.

Social Media 186

Social Media Technical Review Media Social Network 186

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

This huge increase of capital is really just money that used to be invested post-IPO, so more value is captured by VCs who traditionally sold post-IPO In a way we see this late-stage capital as a different market segment than traditional venture capital but it gets lumped into the same classification. trillion in value. Still reading?

Venture Capital 292

Venture Capital IPO Mezzanine Early Stage 292

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

To do this they have to accomplish five things; 1) get deal flow – via networking and legwork, they identify likely industries, companies and teams with the potential for rapid growth (less than 10 years), 2) evaluate those companies and teams on the basis of technology, market opportunity, and team.

Silicon Valley 223

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 223

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2023

It never hurts to start networking personally with all levels of investors early, but sending out teasers and business plans to every name you can find on the Internet is a waste of your time and theirs. Obviously, maturity and growth are a continuum, so the rules are never absolute.

Angel Investor 313

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 313

NZ Entrepreneur

SEPTEMBER 29, 2021

Generating liquidity usually entails either selling the venture or an IPO. Often startup directors bring strong skills in financial management in high growth contexts, marketing and sales expertise, mergers and acquisitions, technical knowledge of the product, their networks, CEO experience and team management expertise.

Technical Review 88

Technical Review Software Review New Zealand Due Diligence 88

Agile VC

MARCH 8, 2012

Tech IPOs Are Back – So Now What? Three of the five “blockbuster” tech IPOs I predicted have happened (LinkedIn, Groupon, Zynga) and the biggest of all (Facebook) has filed and will likely go public within the next 90 days. I see several dynamics at work in today’s IPO markets. March 8, 2012.

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IPO Silicon Valley Revenue Seed Stage 100

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 15, 2010

I think the best solution for the social networking era is “in-stream&# advertising. I know you could argue that YouTube was much broader but it was really popularized in the social networks. In the former case many people scoffed at paying up for Google at IPO. This is a CDN (Content Delivery Network).

Venture Capital 271

Venture Capital Affiliate Valuation San Francisco 271

Agile VC

MARCH 13, 2012

In the early days of LinkedIn we jointly acquired an issued patent of the defunct SixDegrees.com which directly pertains to social networking as well as acquiring a nascent startup in part for its in-process patent filings. And at PayPal we were hit with a couple patent disputes while in the midst of our IPO process. execs involved.

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IP IPO Social Network Silicon Valley 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2022

Offer low cash early, with bonuses or stock options for milestones, to people in your personal network. If you take investor money, expect a push for hockey-stick growth and a liquidity event, like going public (IPO) or sale (M&A), to get the payback. Later you need specialists and managers. The founder succession dilemma.

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Founder Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event 325

BeyondVC

MARCH 25, 2004

So while I was at PC Forum, my partner, Ned Carlson, sent me an email on the recent IPO filing of Seven Networks. It seems that the filing for Seven Networks goes against the grain. Does anyone know the story behind this IPO filing? These are definitely numbers in line with what we were told on the IPO front.

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IPO United States .Net Software Review 60

Growthink Blog

MAY 29, 2012

Unfortunately, lost in too much of the "dramatic" coverage of the Facebook IPO has been the real lessons to be learned for those interested in successful technology and growth company investing. Part of the confusion is understandable. And for a uniquely high profile deal like Facebook, the media also plays a less than "innocent" role.

IPO 85

IPO Stock Technical Review Valuation 85

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 18, 2012

3) It will get much harder for Facebook to recruit talent, since the promise of the pre-IPO stock pop is gone. That data can also be used for fraud prevention because it's pretty hard to fake a person on Facebook compared to the normal behaviors and extended network of others.

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IPO Seed Stage Early Stage Green 115

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

This method was perfected by Gil Elbaz and his team at Applied Semantics in LA and in what some have called “ the most important acquisition ever made by Google ” they acquired the company for $102 million before Google had even IPO’d.

Los Angeles 376

Los Angeles Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Seattle 376

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 16, 2012

Pinterest is going to be the website to watch, along with other image-based social networking, search and sales websites. Niche-Based Social Networks. This is Pinterest’s rise to power from people wanting to find their interests and network with those people. . - Raul Pla , SimpleWifi and UseABoat. Crowdfunding Gone Crazy.

API 157

API Social Media Mobile Valuation 157

Agile VC

FEBRUARY 2, 2012

Facebook S-1: The Most Anticipated IPO in a Decade. Here’s my first look at Facebook viewed through the lens of their IPO filing. who derive a meaningful chunk of their revenue from operating ad networks. Plus Facebook has ample cash on hand today and will get a huge slug more from the IPO. February 2, 2012.

IPO 100

IPO South Korea Venezuela Revenue 100

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 10, 2018

You’ll find exceptions to this rule, like Snapchat, which was operating at a loss at its IPO, when it experienced high initial trading prices due to its huge popularity and untapped monetization capabilities. Founders that have a unique skill set and essential network might set themselves up for failure upon exiting.

Valuation 145

Valuation Technical Review Exit Strategy Metrics 145

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 13, 2014

billion IPO), Envestnet (Chicago, $1.25 billion IPO), HealthDataInsights (Las Vegas, $400 million) as well as LA (Maker Studios $1 billion, TrueCar $1.3 As a result we need somebody well networked into these communities already. We didn’t hire a recruiting firm – it was always going to come from our network.

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Partner Las Vegas Los Angeles Baltimore 408

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2020

It never hurts to start networking personally with all levels of investors early, but sending out teasers and business plans to every name you can find on the Internet is a waste of your time and theirs. Obviously, maturity and growth are a continuum, so the rules are never absolute.

Angel Investor 370

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 370

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. The other reason I could decide so quickly is that I really know networks and marketplaces. HOW GREYLOCK INVESTED IN AIRBNB.

Hosting 69

Hosting Hockey Stick IPO Silicon Valley 69

View from Seed

MAY 3, 2022

The company has recruited a network of tens of thousands of small online resellers, frequently individual stay-at-home entrepreneurs, onto its platform. Flyp’s workflow automation capabilities and AI-driven inventory matching system empower these entrepreneurs to develop and scale their at-home reseller businesses.

Syndicate 156

Syndicate Syndication IPO Matching 156

Austin Startup

SEPTEMBER 29, 2018

I greatly leveraged my eCommerce and broad Shop.org network to do so. I intentionally waited until we were 12 months old and had our first million in annual client bookings to hire our first VP of Sales, Michael Osborne, because I wanted to run with my network first and get the business model right before we added too much fuel to the fire.

Bootstrapping 52

Bootstrapping IPO Business Model Software Review 52

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

Google is still a private company (their IPO was Aug 2004). Online social networking is a concept still being evangelized even in Silicon Valley… Friendster is in private beta (wasn’t until Oct 2003 they received Google acquisition offer which they turned down for Kleiner/Benchmark round). link] leehower.

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

Growthink Blog

FEBRUARY 6, 2012

The biggest technology IPO in history has rightfully captured the imagination of both the general and investment public. So once we put this natural (and may I add wholly unproductive) emotion aside, the thoughtful angel investor should both gain great hope and powerful moving forward lessons from the Facebook IPO. read more.

Angel Investor 76

Angel Investor IPO Private Equity Early Stage 76

David Teten

MARCH 14, 2018

– Create a franchise and license access to it , e.g., the Draper Venture Network. HOF Capital provides hands-on support through our in-house team, plus a network of outside mentors who work with portfolio companies on an as-needed basis. This is a clever way for Tim Draper to leverage his brand and experience. .

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Cofounder 60

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 28, 2016

Fix Venture Capital by Fixing the IPO Market. When I know, work with, and respect more than 50% of the board of a new non-profit, I pay attention. . “Not All Good Ideas Get Funded Anymore” Make the SBA More Entrepreneur-Friendly. Incentivize the Formation and Commitment of Angel Capital. Increase Startups Access to Capital.

SBA 102

SBA Government Small Business Administration Green 102

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 1, 2021

I never heard about giraffes after Google’s IPO, although reportedly one early engineer did buy a carnival-size ferris wheel. Those of us who’ve had access to the right hiring manager, or cap table, or referral network have already put ourselves in a position to capitalize, but the pie can be expanded.

Silicon Valley 124

Silicon Valley Cap Table IPO .Net 124

Growthink Blog

FEBRUARY 13, 2012

Last week , I shared the lessons of liquidity and sector that the intelligent early - stage investor can learn from Facebook's IPO. This idea of technological interconnectedness is related - though not exactly the same – as that of the much ballyhooed Network Effect that is so much at the heart of Facebook's astronomical value.

IPO 67

IPO Private Equity Early Stage Equity 67