Version One Ventures

DECEMBER 14, 2016

This has been an important year for us as a firm, as well as the market in general. There was a significant pull-back of the public markets in Q1. forward revenue in February 2016 (the low), they appreciated by 6% each month for the following six months. But what kind of impact has this had on the private markets?

Technical Review 60

Technical Review Early Stage Portfolio Valuation 60

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 17, 2021

The answer to the age-old question of whether your business should be trying to make money or raise money is almost universally the latter. Generating solid revenue streams early on will make many of the fundraising problems much easier to handle later on. 4 Reasons to Focus on Revenue Before Fundraising. More Leverage.

Startup 78

Startup Revenue Cofounder Angel Investor 78

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

70–80% of the costs of most startups are employee costs so what you’re really talking about when a company is unprofitable is that they are growing their staff ahead of their revenue. Revenue When I look at an income statement I start by focusing on the revenue line. You need to understand the “quality” of the revenue.

Stock Options 227

Stock Options Startup Dilution Venture Capital 227

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 7, 2017

Unfortunately, a number of them had an early exit from the business scene due to ineffective business plans and/or unsustained revenue for their investment. Initially, you get funded by entrepreneur founders who want to develop a product, service, or solution which they think the market needs and demands. Personal Marketing Efforts.

Private Equity 150

Private Equity Startup Incubator Social Network 150

Scalable Startup

AUGUST 9, 2018

High growth startup companies need seed money to get things going. They need the money to rent offices, hire staff, and establish their initial presence (website, incorporation, marketing). Without seed funding most startups seeking high growth won’t make it. Without funding most tech startups will die.

Technical Cofounder 20

Technical Cofounder Silicon Valley Early Stage Cofounder 20

Board Effect

JUNE 28, 2022

Start-up Grants or Seed Money Grants — Start-up grants are hard to come by, but they exist. Capacity-building grants give you the revenue to do more with what you already have and the projects you have already started. While government grants are a good start, you might have better luck looking elsewhere for a grant.

Government 96

Government Seed Money Matching Programming 96

Steve Blank

APRIL 8, 2010

We thought we’d take our plan and go raise seed money. We can’t raise money knowing our plan is wrong.”. This team had spent their first two weeks laying out their hypotheses about sales, marketing, pricing, solution, competitors, etc. He replied, “Well the customers are not acting like we predicted in our plan!

Business Model 328

Business Model Business Plan Customer Cap Table 328

The Next Web

DECEMBER 30, 2013

In January, Denver will become one of the few American cities that allows its residents to purchase and recreationally consume marijuana, a move that is expected to create jobs and generate tax revenue. In 2012, Denver startups raised more than $280M, with 33 startups raising $1M or more. Denver Mayor Michael B. percent.

Denver 166

Denver Silicon Valley San Jose Colorado 166

Austin Startup

SEPTEMBER 17, 2017

There are about 32 million left-handers in the US, you have a special product for them, and surely you can get just 5% of that market and have 1.6 You want your valuation to keep marching upward; if you took in some seed money with the promised 10X venture return, you’ll hopefully be able to prove that you are proceeding on that trajectory.

Valuation 48

Valuation Forecast Seed Money Business Model 48

Ben's Blog

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

We want to be in business with the best entrepreneurs going after the biggest markets and we do not care whether they need seed money, venture money or growth money. When you are raising seed money, you need an investor who can help you grow. Isn’t smaller better?

Seed Money 78

Seed Money Venture Capital Angel Investor Partner 78

The Next Web

JANUARY 21, 2014

Instead of struggling with how to monetize it, grow it, market it or update it, you can simply choose to cash out. You can then use the $1,200 as seed money to work on a new idea. If you’re going to let money be your primary reason for selling you need to be emotionally detached from the app. Time and resources.

Software Review 132

Software Review Revenue Seed Money Analytics 132

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 23, 2015

The private market is pretty efficient that way--and to look at it otherwise is to reinforce the notion that everyone trying to start something, instead of joining the teams with the best ideas is a good thing for the market. in seed money instead of $1.5M Yay, participation trophies! Why not raise $2.5M

Post-Money Valuation 60

Post-Money Valuation Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Seed Money 60

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 2, 2009

We should end the year with a few million in fully recurring revenue and we’re projected to double next year. We could do more in 2010 with more VC investment; the doubling assumes only ratable increase in marketing spend to achieve profitability. But more spend = more viral opps = more revenue down the road.

Founder 329

Founder Liquidation Preference Term Sheet Participating Preferred 329

Rob Go

NOVEMBER 15, 2016

For most companies, this means top-line revenue, but in some cases it’s more about numbers of active users or number of customers. Also, in a market where a bunch of high-flyers are crumbling, investors are more deliberate and less enamored by pure top line metrics. This strategy can also fail because the goal line might move. $1M

Product 28

Product Seed Stage Seed Money Metrics 28

Rob Go

JANUARY 20, 2015

As a team, we’ve been thinking about what has been going on in the seed market in recent years. Answer first: we think that the seed market has settled somewhat, so charts like these don’t really cause much alarm but are generally consistent with what we’ve been seeing. Are we in the midst of major transition?

Early Stage 28

Early Stage Seed Stage Finance Seed Money 28

Rob Go

MARCH 20, 2013

First, the first time products hit the market and it’s clear you don’t have 100% product market fit. Is it possible to take seed money and not go for the Series A, etc, and just earn revenue? If we never want to exit and plan to own and run the company forever, would anyone invest any money at all? .

Bootstrapping 46

Bootstrapping Finance Dividend Vesting 46

readwrite.com

DECEMBER 3, 2012

And because , "According to our market research, the top vendor in the space does more than $450 million in annual sales." Because “there isn’t a centralized place to discover, discuss, rate or buy these kinds of gourmet meals.”

Silicon Valley 111

Silicon Valley Las Vegas Angel Investor Startup 111

www.paulgraham.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

The market price is less than the inconvenience of signing an NDA. Microsofts originalplan was to make money selling programming languages, of all things.Their current business model didnt occur to them until IBM droppedit in their lap five years later. The best odds are in niche markets. This is calledseed capital.

Startup 105

Startup Cofounder Software Stock 105

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 20, 2011

This is extra frustrating in an era in which all you read about is how frothy the VC / funding market is these days. Obviously the diagnosis can have many route causes: Sometimes it’s a question of a market that is less sexy than the current VC fad. You might be positioning your market or the opportunity wrong.

Dilution 284

Dilution Valuation Seed Money Differentiation 284

Hippoland

JANUARY 23, 2018

It will be hard to raise a pre-seed round through traditional methods If you are raising money through traditional methods (such as with angels / micro VCs / VCs) via a convertible note or convertible security or equity deal, it will be a lot harder to raise pre-seed money in 2018. The market had definitely shifted.

Early Stage 48

Early Stage Convertible Security Seed Stage SEC 48

Hippoland

JANUARY 23, 2018

It will be hard to raise a pre-seed round through traditional methods If you are raising money through traditional methods (such as with angels / micro VCs / VCs) via a convertible note or convertible security or equity deal, it will be a lot harder to raise pre-seed money in 2018. The market had definitely shifted.

Early Stage 48

Early Stage Convertible Security Seed Stage SEC 48

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

The one thing that does effect them all is the cyclicality of funding and exit markets, but if you go back over the last 20 years, there's really only been a very short timeframe where you literally could not get a company funded. If you're doing seed deals, how often does a down round in a seed deal even happen?

Later Stage 99

Later Stage Down Round Pre-Money Valuation Early Stage 99

crowdSPRING Blog

FEBRUARY 16, 2016

Entrepreneurs fall into the trap of spending months crafting plans that may not actually fit the market by the time they begin building their company. Businesses do require some capital, but this doesn’t mean that every startup has to raise millions of dollars in seed money. image credit: Paul Cross.

Washington 48

Washington Incubator Cofounder Angel Investor 48

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Not everybody can, especially if they need to run with the idea to get to market. Pitching to investors before building is a waste of time especially if they do not understand the timing to enter the market. By now it is useless except bragging rights as traction and market disruption have been lost.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 84

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

It wasnt because they werent accredited investors that I didntask my parents for seed money, though. When we were starting Viaweb,I didnt know about the concept of an accredited investor, anddidnt stop to think about the value of investors connections.The reason I didnt take money from my parents was that I didntwant them to lose it.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

crowdSPRING Blog

SEPTEMBER 20, 2016

It launched in 2013 with $3 million in seed money from American and Australian investors, and offers a series of templates intended to make good design easier to execute and more accessible. There is always going to be a role for design professionals in branding and marketing. It’s just the latest fad in the space.

Design 48

Design Cofounder Silicon Valley Seed Money 48

crowdSPRING Blog

SEPTEMBER 20, 2016

It launched in 2013 with $3 million in seed money from American and Australian investors, and offers a series of templates intended to make good design easier to execute and more accessible. There is always going to be a role for design professionals in branding and marketing. It’s just the latest fad in the space.

Design 48

Design Cofounder Silicon Valley Seed Money 48

crowdSPRING Blog

SEPTEMBER 20, 2016

It launched in 2013 with $3 million in seed money from American and Australian investors, and offers a series of templates intended to make good design easier to execute and more accessible. There is always going to be a role for design professionals in branding and marketing. It’s just the latest fad in the space.

Design 48

Design Cofounder Silicon Valley Seed Money 48

Gregg Fraley, Author of Jack's Notebook

SEPTEMBER 5, 2013

One must have at least seed money, or more, to get a start-up going. How would you feel if Kroger’s lobbied the government against farmers markets or food co-ops? if they were able to tax credit unions there would be significant revenue to the government, and 2.) Also a good source for small business loans.

Non-Compete 86

Non-Compete Government Dividend Seed Money 86

pandodaily.com

NOVEMBER 29, 2012

Add to this regular angels becoming “super angels” — a much-mocked phrase for when someone goes from investing their own money to investing institutional funds. Essentially they became micro-VCs, still investing at the seed level but with much greater resources behind them. A name like 500 Startups says it all.

Technical Review 93

Technical Review Silicon Valley Incubator Syria 93