Start Up Blog

OCTOBER 12, 2022

When a top 10 company by valuation like Facebook, changes its name and focus to the MetaVerse – it is going to generate a lot of attention. Since its launch in 2004, Facebook was the clear winner of social networking with 3.6 Facebook / Meta wants to own what it thinks will be the future of social interaction.

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Social Network Government Valuation Advertising 48

VC Cafe

JANUARY 24, 2021

In 2021, optimism on investing in social media has returned. It’s enough to see the rapid adoption of new social platforms from Signal in messaging to Clubhouse’s $1 billion valuation in less than a year. Read A16Z’s social strikes back series to get a feel of just how much movement is in this space.

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Technical Review Audio Forecast Social Media 207

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. Look out for more products that aggregate and organize existing accounts and automatically scrub your inboxes, feeds and social media connections. Niche-Based Social Networks.

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API Social Media Mobile Valuation 157

VC Cafe

AUGUST 2, 2022

billion valuation) to invest in the Metaverse and build the future of digital entertainment Epic owns Fortnite, one of the most popular multiplayer games, enabling users to interact with each other online in an immersive way to play, socialise, attend to virtual concerts. In April 2022, the company announced it has raised $2 billion (at $31.5

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IP Cofounder Valuation Acquisition 206

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. billion valuation. This is a CDN (Content Delivery Network). But I made it for a reason. uh, hello!

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Venture Capital Affiliate Valuation San Francisco 271

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

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). It was a pretty good valuation for the time. It was a $4.7M link] leehower.

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Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Intellectual property is a large element of most early-stage company valuations, and this value determines what percent of the company an investor will expect to get for his money. These are things that can cost very little money, but go a long ways in convincing someone that you are making progress. Become a visible expert.

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Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Sweat Equity CTO Hire 281

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 7, 2013

Get introduced via one of the social networks, or a professional organization, before you approach a VC with a business proposal. To make this work, you will need an initial valuation of at least $5M. Make a personal connection, directly or indirectly.

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Venture Capital IPO Elevator Pitch Initial Public Offering 252

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2021

In startup business plans, a bubble is too many entrepreneurs and too many investors chasing the latest “next big thing,” like Google search engine, Facebook social network, or Amazon e-commerce site. High valuation, low profit. Social media darling Twitter is an example of these bubbles.

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Demand Government Venture Capital Valuation 362

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

If you’re really an entrepreneur you’ll find a way to network with the right people. Social Network s / Search / Blogs – Obvious, huh? I’m surprised at the number of people who aren’t good at tracking down relationships in social networks. Most people don’t love networking.

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Silicon Valley Ireland Technical Review Valuation 291

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

We received so much positive feedback from our This Week in Venture Capital show walking through valuation calculations & term sheets that we decided to do a Q&A show this week to address topics that entrepreneurs want to learn about. The best thing to get is a “right sized&# valuation. A: It’s not best.

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Venture Capital Term Sheet Valuation Stock Options 282

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

While Google fights on the edges, Amazon is attacking their core - Chris Dixon , May 22, 2010 Google is fighting battles on almost every front: social networking, mobile operating systems, web browsers, office apps, and so on. Valuation is an important aspect of VC deal terms, and a major determinant of your ultimate outcome.

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Fractional CTO Startup Venture Capital Cofounder 248

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

But, most of use raise capital and source deals the same way people looked for dates 20 years ago: by networking at conferences (or bars). . Boardex and Relationship Science make it easier to understand and map social networks into potential limited partners. That’s why 40 million Americans use online dating sites.

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Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Reserve the company name on social networks to protect it. It should answer every question an investor or associate might ask, including current valuation, funding needed, and exit strategy. Network to the maximum with investor connections. Define some intellectual property. Finalize your financial model.

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Intellectual Property Angel Investor Technical Review Elevator Pitch 249

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

This has a tangible impact on the valuation of start-ups and the pace of investment. It is also a result of pent-up demand. In the following post I argue that this increased pace may be temporary. Bad stock markets mean less IPO’s and lower prices for M&A. If the stock market holds then the pace of VC may hold steady.

Technical Review 269

Technical Review Stock Hawaii Early Stage 269

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2012

Intellectual property is a large element of most early-stage company valuations, and this value determines what percent of the company an investor will expect to get for his money. These are things that can cost very little money, but go a long ways in convincing someone that you are making progress. Become a visible expert.

Intellectual Property 260

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 260

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 26, 2020

Some people blame it on Justin Timberlake (playing Sean Parker) in the movie The Social Network, who famously said that one million wasn’t cool, one billion was. To do that you have to show how your market is big enough (a multi-billion dollar market) to support that kind of valuation. It doesn’t always have to be alumni.

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Finance Silicon Valley Valuation Startup 205

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2009

Quick aside: how can VC’s invest in online businesses, digital media, social networks or mobile applications if they don’t actually use the products actively themselves?

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Founder Technical Review Startup Venture Capital 299

The Startup Magazine

MAY 7, 2024

It encourages users to form social networks around shared values and offers tools for petitions, pledges, surveys to foster digital activism. Engaging with your base of supporters enables more straightforward communication and furthers the influence of your campaign amongst their personal networks.

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Campaign Seed Capital Social Network Global 148

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2011

Intellectual property is a large element of most early-stage company valuations, and this value determines what percent of the company an investor will expect to get for his money. These are things that can cost very little money, but go a long ways in convincing someone that you are making progress. Become a visible expert.

Intellectual Property 253

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 253

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

Reserve the company name on social networks to protect it. It should answer every question an investor or associate might ask, including current valuation, funding needed, and exit strategy. Network to the maximum with investor connections. Define some intellectual property. Finalize your financial model.

Angel Investor 224

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Technical Review Elevator Pitch 224

VC Cafe

MAY 29, 2022

Snap’s stock plunged 40% last week after Evan Spigel announced the company will miss revenue targets, which raises questions about other ‘advertising powered’ social networks. Additionally, given the valuation entry points, the return upside remains quite substantial regardless of macro conditions.

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Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation Startup 183

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? It was from the Wall Street Journal--a publication I count on for emphasizing quality journalism over empty linkbaity headlines above hollow stories.

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Venture Capital Marketing Term Sheet Software Review 130

The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

As a testament to the growing power of “the creator economy,” visual content creation app development startup Lightricks has secured an impressive $130 million investment round, at a valuation of $1.8 The creator economy has changed the way we, as a society, experience social networks.

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Private Equity Developer Venture Capital Merger 167

Genuine VC

JULY 19, 2010

But leveraged distribution via platforms (organic/paid search, social networks, mobile devices) and self-service monetization (ad networks, app stores, payments) is what has truly empowered startups to become real scalable businesses on very small amounts of initial capital.

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Seed Stage Technical Review Dilution Offshore 175

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 23, 2010

What I notice is that people further the conversation, talk with each other, network, try to get noticed (linking to their websites, etc.). I pick my topics to answer and they’re ones that I know better than most having worked at Fox through all of our growth years and building out this large advertising network. No, really.

Silicon Valley 301

Silicon Valley Pre-Money Valuation Technical Review Software Review 301

ReadWriteStart

MARCH 24, 2011

First up, Priyanshu Harshavat, from Evanston, Illinois, presented Socioclean , a service for cleaning up your reputation on social networks. Next Chris Ruder from Chicago, Illinois, pitched Spikeball , a new volleyball-esque game that is being played at camps and college campuses.

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Illinois Entrepreneur Silicon Valley Chicago 114

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 8, 2010

In Hulu it is each individual studio / network wanting to push their own stuff direct rather than through Hulu. Hulu emerged in the social networking era and yet Boxee has been way out in front in terms of creating social viewing experiences. I would reduce my equity stake much further.

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Video Technical Review Advertising Distribution 292

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 9, 2011

Valuations were enormous relative to progress in companies. Companies with less than $2 million in revenue were asking for $50-60 million valuations and getting them. I spent my days meeting companies, figuring out what areas of the market interested me and trying to get a sense for how VCs thought about fair valuations.

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Stock Technical Review Marketing Greece 305

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2010

Intellectual property is a large element of most early-stage company valuations, and this value determines what percent of the company an investor will expect to get for his money. These are things that can cost very little money, but go a long ways in convincing someone that you are making progress. Become a visible expert.

Intellectual Property 222

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 222

Steve Blank

JUNE 15, 2011

A tech bubble is the rapid inflation in the valuation of public and private technology companies that exceeds their fundamental value by a large margin. Today, the signs of the new bubble are the Linked-In initial public offering (IPO), Facebook’s stratospheric valuation and the rapid rise of early-stage startup valuation.

Silicon Valley 330

Silicon Valley Stealth Valuation Mississippi 330

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

Valuations are out of control” is the mantra of others. If you look at some high-profile tech companies funded in the last big VC cycle you had eBay, Amazon, Salesforce & Google each go public having raised < $100 million in VC TOTAL prior to IPO and their last private-market valuation were all sub $400 million.

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Venture Capital IPO Mezzanine Early Stage 292

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2012

…” I’ll write soon on my views of why I believe Instagram took off as a social network and what I think comes next. Instagram happens to be one of the few social networks I regularly use along with Twitter. Did raising money at a $500 million valuation help secure the $1 billion deal?

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Valuation Balance Sheet Dilution Term Sheet 316

Gust

SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

There’s no use banging your head against a VC’s door with a social network venture if they only invest in biotech companies. As noted above, most investors find most of their best investments through recommendations from people in their network, and that network now includes…you!

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Angel Groups Elevator Pitch Software Review Deal Flow 159

The Startup Magazine

MAY 30, 2019

Crowdify also has its own Start-Up Incubator and is uniquely positioned to advise the next generation of potential UK Unicorns (start-ups which reach a market valuation of $1bn). Experience; 0-60 agile innovation that start ups need; Relevancy to business, landscapes, networks & communities.

Marketing 94

Marketing Agile Social Network Valuation 94

thebarefootvc

DECEMBER 16, 2011

Powered by cell phones and social networking platforms, we saw revolutions taking place, businesses being transformed and our daily lives made more convenient (if we could tear ourselves away from our Facebook and Twitter updates). eCommerce/Social Commerce: New models continue to evolve as ecommerce rebounded this past year.

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Technical Review India Mobile Hockey Stick 110

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2009

million for a social networking site 18 months ago. So we know that our valuation will be lower than others who would have already raised $4 million.&# He then went on to describe a phenomenal set of biz dev partnerships that they had signed and showed me a very cool product. Your A round investors are not stepping up. -

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Venture Capital Due Diligence Flash Strategic Investors 264