Both Sides of the Table

JULY 21, 2014

And importantly we’ve had revenue. When I start to see revenue figures I always want to know the details behind the revenue: Who championed the project? I’m paranoid about the evaporation of revenue. It will bring down your overall margins but will produce profitable revenue. It has been a good run.

Marketing 354

Marketing Incubator Turkey Metrics 354

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 10, 2011

But creating better visibility for investors of the profitability of each unit and accountability for bosses of each to perform well according to differnet metrics is a good & important idea. Magazines – Magazines make their money through a combination of subscription or purchase revenue vs. ad revenue. ”).

Customer 287

Customer Technical Review Caching PR 287

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 25, 2016

It turns out that to build a successful company you ultimately need this strange thing called “revenue” that people don’t just hand you: You need to earn it. And there’s this other thing called “gross margin,” which shows the quality of your revenue. How much ad revenue does TripAdvisor make?

Startup 150

Startup Seed Money DC Software Review 150

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

million post-money valuation with no revenue. We had companies pitching us that had almost no revenue at all and they were raising $10-15 million in capital at a $40-50 million pre-money valuation. Another firm we saw tried to raise $15 million at a $60 million pre-money with similar metrics. I raised my A round at a $31.5

Pre-Money Valuation 336

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Stock 336

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2013

The minute you try to monetize now they have metrics with which to beat you up and say you’re business has limitations.” The company with no revenue and a $150k burn rate that raised $2.5 I often wonder why they didn’t find a way to bring in some revenue to cover costs. I see this weekly. If that narrows to $1.5

Burn Rate 412

Burn Rate Dilution Revenue Valuation 412

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2014

In a funding round with 1 or 2 VCs and 15-20 angels or 4-6 seed funds if you gave every investor you financial information and performance metrics your proprietary information would increase in its probability of leaking out. They have listed forward revenue figures that are highly questionable and bring the issue of SEC oversight to my mind.

SEC 352

SEC Venture Capital Early Stage Cofounder 352

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

There were no metrics. Him: On metrics. Revenue multiple? If we priced it based on any metrics your company would likely be worth less than 7 figures at your A round. Him: But when I raised my first round we didn’t know how to price the company. So a convertible note was easier. How will you price the next round?

Venture Capital 417

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet 417

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2017

You can often measure how many deals were achieved but there often doesn’t flow a steady stream of revenues / profits from these deals. Vanity metrics will make you feel good about site traffic of SEO over conversion rate or purchases of your product will get more attention than retention. You get a lot of traffic — not always results.

Cofounder 164

Cofounder Retention PR SEO 164

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2016

When you raise larger rounds there is more “due diligence,” which includes: calling customers, looking at financial metrics, doing cohort analysis (looking for trends like changes in churn rates), evaluating competitor positioning and understanding more of the competency of your executive team.

Burn Rate 150

Burn Rate Cap Table Valuation Software Review 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

Good press and industry mojo wasn’t enough to overcome the financial metrics of the business and the offers came in at more like $10 million. Sure, our revenue is growing, but is that enough to raise an internal round? There are merger discussions, board debates, product miscues, revenue misses and a litany of delicate topics.

Startup 417

Startup Dilution San Diego Stock Options 417

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 21, 2010

Plus, we’re all allured by the false sense that our contract with BigCo is going to “make us&# because once they start using us it will spread like wildfire and the revenue will flow in. They negotiate a “master agreement&# to work with your company with some maybe minimum guarantees in terms of revenue.

Warrant 298

Warrant Dilution Startup Stock Options 298

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 17, 2018

" Revenue doesn't pay your bills, GM does  —  @msuster 2/ Founders obsess with revenue as a vanity metric. Some even grow "bad" revenue just to show growth. But if you want to add some in the comments section on Medium and I’ll make sure to read them.

Founder 242

Founder Dilution Software Review Later Stage 242

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. The opportunity to transact at the point of purchase increases the sheer number of revenue opportunities.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

A detailed financial model that shows your anticipated revenue, costs and profits (Income Statement) as well as your balance sheet and cashflow statements. Kai taught me that the key metric to whether a sales process is going well is “engagement.”

Cap Table 336

Cap Table Due Diligence Forecast Churn Rate 336

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 4, 2013

He published another MUST READ post about being careful not to confuse early revenue traction with product / market fit. Because the founder is so capable of convincing the market to adopt/purchase the product, the company can get revenue traction with a product that is not really right. The money quote.

Technical Review 401

Technical Review Startup Business Model Non-Compete 401

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2010

Everyone has their own definition of momentum (user numbers, revenue, channel partners, biz dev deals, whatever). That might work for $50-100k but less likely for $3m unless you’re a seasoned entrepreneur, known to the VC, have some metrics that work in your favor or have built something the VC believes to be truly unique.

Early Stage 360

Early Stage Startup Venture Capital Seed Stage 360

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

They raised at $40 million pre-money for pre-revenue companies and when the economy corrected it became hard for them to refinance themselves. was – it can actually be a problem for entrepreneurs to raise at too high of a price. We saw this with VC backed companies in 07/08.

Liquidity Event 308

Liquidity Event Silicon Valley Seed Stage Finance 308

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 9, 2013

should we charge SaaS revenue, ad revenue or volumetric billing revenue? should we cut staff early since our revenue isn’t growing? Schedule 1:1 calls 1 week before the meeting to walk each board member through the key issues / performance metrics in the business.

Advisory Board 337

Advisory Board Valuation Stock Options Seed Money 337

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

He believes that one of the financial metrics taught at business schools and reinforced by Wall Street has accelerated offshoring of industries. ” No royalty paid until there is revenue. We also spoke about technology systems in the perspective of global competition. He spoke about ROCE (return on capital employed).

Bankruptcy 403

Bankruptcy Offshore Liquidation Preference Balance Sheet 403

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

-Company grew by more than “400% each year” for past few years [assume growth metric = revenues]. Competition: Chegg (has raised $144 in debt and equity)—estimated by Steven Carpenter ( TechCrunch ) to be 10x more unique visitors than BookRenter (during peak book renting seasons) with nearly $140mm in revenues for 2010.

Venture Capital 217

Venture Capital Los Angeles Oakland Asia 217