Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2014

buy out an entire company for its revenue and profits. These include the product itself, the customer, the distribution channel, revenue model, how to get, keep and grow customers, resources and activities needed to build the business and costs.). If they decide to buy, large companies can: license/acquire intellectual property.

Acquisition 332

Acquisition Intellectual Property Silicon Valley Startup 332

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 28, 2018

There are many things a VC is looking for in reviewing your business plan but beyond things the like the quality of revenue, margins, OPEX and CAPEX there’s a really simple rule I call, “Cash In, Cash Out, Milestones Achieved.” Usually that’s the point in the meeting where a VC realizes that this meeting isn’t going to go very well.

Burn Rate 247

Burn Rate Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Dilution 247

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2017

As best, you should reserve this option for later stage VC discussions, once you have a well-proven business model, large market following, and substantial revenue. More importantly, make sure first that you really want to give up the entrepreneur lifestyle for the challenges of a public company executive.

IPO 218

IPO SEC Prospectus Technical Review 218

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2020

Most new teams are geographically dispersed these days anyway, so paying rent for an office should be differed to later stages when revenue is plentiful. Defer your desire for expensive perks and vacations until later when you have time for them. Favor profitability over revenue and user growth.

Hockey Stick 423

Hockey Stick Bootstrapping Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 423

Steve Blank

JANUARY 22, 2014

Regional Angel funds that pool investors capital and typically make a one time investment in a startup, sometimes at an early stage but often at a slightly later stage. Late stage large regionally based funds that invest in late stage or mezzanine deals. Large regionally based early stage funds have mostly failed.

Early Stage 286

Early Stage Silicon Valley Oregon Technical Review 286

The Equity Kicker

AUGUST 19, 2015

If you read this Techrunch post profiling 50 of the current YC companies you will notice that many of them are up and running with customers and revenues. In the words of an alum from the 2006 cohort: Companies are joining YC at a much later stage.

Later Stage 60

Later Stage Private Equity Venture Capital Valuation 60

Steve Blank

MARCH 17, 2020

Next, take a look at your actual revenue each month – not forecast, but real revenue coming in each month. If you’re an early stage company, that number may be zero. Subtract your monthly gross burn rate from your monthly revenue to get your net burn rate. This math works in a normal market…. The World Turned Upside Down.

Burn Rate 436

Burn Rate Startup Valuation Sales Cycle 436

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 22, 2014

Shark Question #2: What were your total revenues for the last quarter and last 12 months, including profit margins? To get these “numbers,” do a review of total revenue and expenses, review by product or service line, and a profit-margin analysis – all of which can all be obtained from your company’s income statement.

CPA 160

CPA Technical Review Later Stage Equity 160

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2016

Before you bring on partners, develop intellectual property, raise capital, or generate revenues, you need to establish an official business entity. You don’t have to be a heavily funded later stage startup to get access to “big data,” customer analytics, and metrics dashboards. Measuring progress with big data and analytics.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Startup Angel Groups Social Media 120

Gust

DECEMBER 25, 2013

To start with, a pre-revenue mobile company cannot expect to raise anything from “the VCs” Venture capital funds invest in only one out of every 400 companies seeking funding, so the odds of your particular startup getting funded are astronomically against you. Good luck with your venture!

Revenue 136

Revenue Angel Investor Mobile Venture Capital 136

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 5, 2023

I understand that now, being an investor in companies that have over 100 employees, closing in on $100mm run rates, where it’s been a long time since I was a Board Observer and most of their interaction is with the bigger, later stage investors that came after me.

Later Stage 218

Later Stage Term Sheet Venture Capital Limited Partner 218

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2016

Some LPs have privately speculated that later-stage VCs may have a field day in the next 18 months, buying up large positions in firms with strong revenue at attractive prices given the recent squeeze on funding. But of course, for every angle of the market where one person sees caution, another spots opportunities.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital LP Silicon Valley Marketing 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2022

As best, you should reserve this option for later stage VC discussions, once you have a well-proven business model, large market following, and substantial revenue. More importantly, make sure first that you really want to give up the entrepreneur lifestyle for the challenges of a public company executive.

IPO 245

IPO SEC Prospectus Startup 245

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

As best, you should reserve this option for later stage VC discussions, once you have a well-proven business model, large market following, and substantial revenue. More importantly, make sure first that you really want to give up the entrepreneur lifestyle for the challenges of a public company executive.

IPO 120

IPO SEC Prospectus Stock 120

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 27, 2014

We both agree that the later-stage valuations are being driven up to a point that feels irrationally priced [he uses b-round SaaS valuations as an example and I am willing to be even more broad based]. Most of those industries are fee-based and are competing on revenue growth. I don’t totally agree with that view.

Valuation 309

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Later Stage Non-Compete 309

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

How else can you explain this headline matching a story about a professional social network still trying to explore revenues raising $17mm on an $80mm valuation? venture capitalists are now asking tougher questions about start-ups' revenue and profits.". Perhaps I need to rethink that. What follows in this story is pretty laughable: ".venture

Venture Capital 114

Venture Capital Marketing Term Sheet Software Review 114

David Teten

JANUARY 21, 2021

This essay is part of a series on alternative VC: I: Revenue-Based Investing: a new option for founders who care about control. II: Who are the major Revenue-Based Investing VCs? III: Why are Revenue-Based VCs investing in so many women and underrepresented founders? IV: Should your new VC fund use Revenue-Based Investing?

Equity 78

Equity Revenue Cofounder Colorado 78

thebarefootvc

JANUARY 27, 2014

I think that later stage valuations are frothy (for reasons I explain below) while earlier stage valuations are starting to stabilize from previous highs (with the exception of the superstar serial entrepreneur) - turns out scaling in a sea of competition (both startup and entrenched) is not so easy.

Technical Review 63

Technical Review Valuation Venture Capital Investment Bankers 63

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

Even for later-stage companies with predictable financials, the lack of liquidity, audited financials, and standardized metrics creates real challenges to scaling quantitative investing. Later stage investors are using private company marketplace services focused on more established companies, listed below under “Exit Investments”.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

The earlier you invest the higher the chances the company won’t work out and thus you pay a lower price than later-stage investors. million post-money valuation with no revenue. So how exactly are prices determined? There is no great science to it. I raised my A round at a $31.5 It was early 2000. That was market.

Pre-Money Valuation 336

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Stock 336

Berkonomics

JUNE 16, 2022

We can invent lots of metrics to measure progress for a leader, including revenue, profit, employee satisfaction, cost containment, percentage of available market, and more. I prefer a financial goal, such as “achieve $20 million in revenue within five years.” Have you stated a goal for others to follow?

Later Stage 62

Later Stage Early Stage Valuation Acquisition 62

ReadWriteStart

MARCH 3, 2021

First, we need to address the core challenges of developing effective early-stage growth strategies for new businesses. Many new businesses have a small customer base, limited revenue, and a finite amount of funding to work with. Without new customers, there’s no new revenue, and therefore no engine of growth to tap into.

Early Stage 125

Early Stage PPC Retention Churn Rate 125

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

NVV: Let’s talk about the seed stage specifically. With venture debt as a source of low-cost capital to fuel growth or buy time during later stages, should a founder approach their fundraising from VCs any differently today ? Traction and revenue? NVV: What do debt providers look for in a company’s track record?

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

The rest of Asia is still developing with far more angel and early-stage investors than mid-to-later stage folks. Singapore is by far the most developed behind those big three markets with government schemes attracting over a dozen early stage firms to set up shop here (e.g.

Asia 132

Asia Silicon Valley India Singapore 132

OnlyOnce

MARCH 14, 2011

We all knew if the feature or function that the client was asking for was within the realm of the possible. • We were very, very focused on creating customers and revenue —We were a startup. If we drove revenue above costs, we got to take home a salary. They come in awfully handy in funding new initiatives.

Software Review 67

Software Review Development Team Review Later Stage Revenue 67

Hippoland

OCTOBER 9, 2016

If you’re still in the early stages of your entrepreneur-education/journey, you may even think you need to protect your idea and not share it with anyone. revenue / traction / setting up infrastructure / etc) This can set you apart, because the vast majority of businesses I see at the seed stage are just ideas with no action.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage CTO Hire Email Later Stage 48

VC Adventure

MAY 5, 2022

BUT (and you knew there was a but here given the post title…) it’s a poor way to compare the relative performance of funds early, and even into the mid/later, stages of a fund’s life. Both were valued at greater than 50x revenue (one was, I think, 70x revenue). This is a mistake.

IRR 116

IRR Metrics Valuation LP 116

K9 Ventures

FEBRUARY 8, 2020

.” IMHO this was why @cartainc had such a hard time raising in the early stages. 6/ You can only draw a straight line when you have clear signal, usually in the form of product-market-fit and user/revenue traction. This is what makes early-stage investing so much more fun and exciting for me.

Startup 118

Startup Early Stage Later Stage Revenue 118

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 19, 2017

Gross burn is your cost base and net burn is the difference between your revenue and costs. In general you should allow yourself 4–6 months of time to fund raise (longer if you’re later stage and require a much bigger round) so calculating anticipated burn rate is pretty easy. You start from the basics, which is if you raise $2.5

Burn Rate 212

Burn Rate Startup .Net Venture Capital 212

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2016

First priority is real revenue, customers and contracts. Thus, $100,000 of gross revenue in the last 12 months might be extrapolated to $500,000 to $1 million in valuation. Future revenue projections are not relevant at the pre-revenue stage. Future revenue projections are not relevant at the pre-revenue stage.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Startup 120

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

When you add up all our costs in Sales and Marketing (SaaS metric: CAC), the result is very small compared to the total revenue we’ll earn from than customer over the next few years (SaaS metric: LTV). That should be OK since we’ll be profitable in the long run. Some day 1 is fine if it’s improving.

Metrics 238

Metrics Revenue Flash Later Stage 238

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 6, 2016

Most new teams are geographically dispersed these days anyway, so paying rent for an office should be differed to later stages when revenue is plentiful. Defer your desire for expensive perks and vacations until later when you have time for them. Favor profitability over revenue and user growth.

Bootstrapping 120

Bootstrapping Hockey Stick Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 120

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

This skillset is usually not required / less important until later stage of the business when you’re wrestling with more complex questions, such as “what are the predictive indicators of churn?”, “what’s the forecasted LTV of given customer cohort?” Additionally, understanding how financial reporting is usually presented (e.g.

Analytics 149

Analytics Hiring SQL Forecast 149

Reid Hoffman

MARCH 9, 2021

But I knew that there was a ton of work to be done to scale the business into multiple business lines, and that we would be better off with a CEO who was a grand master of organizational growth and had the product vision to serve as a later-stage co-founder. Sometimes, it’s not obvious.

Leadership 42

Leadership Technical Review Cofounder Later Stage 42

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2012

You also will find that the stage your startup is in dictates where you go to seek funding. Funding sources specialize in certain growth stages. Angel investors typically provide early-stage funding, while venture capital firms typically come in at later stages. Growth stage. Exit stage.

Investment Bankers 241

Investment Bankers Venture Capital Startup Initial Public Offering 241

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 26, 2022

So first, we were much more sort of with a high growth rate, and we did not even care about how we got the revenue when we got it. And now we are much more careful about revenue quality revenues. So the quality of growth has implications on the revenue stream’s sustainability. Would you say that? . David Zhang.

Partner 132

Partner Cofounder Retention Acquisition 132

View from Seed

MARCH 19, 2015

He’s dubbed the approach “ pretotyping ,” and it shares many of the same principles as both its similar-sounding (if later-stage) cousin, prototyping, as well as the more well-known lean startup movement. After five years, the company was sold for a fraction of the money we had raised — and spent.

Product 120

Product Technical Review Marketing Lean 120