Steve Blank

JANUARY 28, 2013

Qualcomm’s visionary CEO, Paul Jacobs , wanted to use internal Qualcomm ideas to find breakthrough innovation that could be turned into products, (not simply a suggestion box for creative thoughts or improving sustaining innovation.) He gave my innovation team free reign on designing a new employee innovation program. (In

Programming 283

Programming Design Lean Seed Money 283

Up and Running

APRIL 18, 2014

David sold his recording equipment for $50,000 and they borrowed the rest of their seed money from a bank. Beth developed her own intensive curriculum and, with the help of seed money from a student, founded YogaFit® in 1994 to fill the niche. David’s advice. Stacy’s advice. Walk before you run. Think big but start small.

Detroit 156

Detroit Technical Review Cofounder North America 156

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 28, 2015

by John Vrionis, partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. Startups need to understand how to manage the seed money they receive from investors and VCs. John Vrionis ( @jvrionis ) is a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners who focuses primarily on early stage enterprise and consumer technology investments.

Convertible Security 100

Convertible Security IP Technical Review Software Review 100

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2010

You see, investors invest in people, before they invest in ideas or products. Since they don’t know you (yet), their first integrity check on you as a person is whether your friends and family believe in you strongly enough to give you seed money for your new idea. If they won’t do it, they why would I as stranger invest in you?

Technical Review 233

Technical Review Elevator Pitch Due Diligence Angel Investor 233

The Equity Kicker

AUGUST 20, 2014

My partner Dharmesh Raithatha wrote the post below on the Forward Partners blog earlier this week. With no team and no technical expertise Matt was planning to find a team and build out some product before starting to raise some seed money. —————————-.

Cofounder 95

Cofounder Founder Technical Cofounder Technical Review 95

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 5, 2020

You can get discounts on: Apple products. You should never ignore the opportunity for money off of the things you need to get set up. Moreover, some of these discounted products could be a good source for an ecommerce venture if you think out of the box. Electronics. Office items. Business services . Final Words.

Seed Money 91

Seed Money Startup eCommerce .Net 91

YoungUpstarts

JULY 17, 2020

Contributing seed money to an employee’s HSA or 401K, or instituting a match program for contributions, can encourage employees to save. Of course, you want to make sure that your employees are also feeling financially secure. The post 4 Tips For Startups During A Pandemic appeared first on Young Upstarts.

Startup 287

Startup Wisconsin Stock Options Dividend 287

Version One Ventures

DECEMBER 14, 2016

At the same time, seed money is still abundant due to the proliferation of micro VC over the past few years. First, there was the Industrial Revolution, followed by the Age of Steam and Railways; Steel & Heavy Engineering; Oil, Autos & Mass Production; and now the Information and Communications Technology Revolution.

Technical Review 60

Technical Review Early Stage Portfolio Valuation 60

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 31, 2019

Scott Kupor is the managing partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where he’s responsible for all operational aspects of running the firm. Many very successful, non-technology companies have also been products of venture capital, including Home Depot, Starbucks, and Staples.

Lean 108

Lean Venture Capital Conversion IPO 108

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). When launching your company there are 2 times to raise your outside seed funding, and one time window to avoid.

Technical Cofounder 20

Technical Cofounder Silicon Valley Early Stage Cofounder 20

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

Is it one product line or multiple? Is the revenue dependent on a concentrated set of distribution partners or platforms that put future revenue at risk? For example, if you sell your product through a third-party reseller who charges 30% of any sale then your COGS will be 30% of revenue (assuming no other costs of sales).

Stock Options 227

Stock Options Startup Dilution Venture Capital 227

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

and (Is There Really a Signaling Problem with VC Seed Funding?). Many (Union Square Ventures, Foundry Group, True Ventures, GRP Partners, Mike Hirshland at Polaris Ventures) do it the right way – we treat it as a normal investment and we don’t have a “options&# strategy with our investment.

Post-Money Valuation 298

Post-Money Valuation Term Sheet Warrant Partner 298

The Next Web

JULY 27, 2013

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Aaron Pitman , an angel investor and founder and partner of RA Domain Capital. Starting up a Kickstarter campaign instantly puts a ticking clock above your head when it comes to delivering your product or service. What actually happened, however, was a much sadder story.

Seed Money 130

Seed Money Massachusetts Equity Campaign 130

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 includes how the product gets distributed to your customers and how money flows back into your company. He replied, “Well the customers are not acting like we predicted in our plan! Here’s why.

Business Model 328

Business Model Business Plan Customer Cap Table 328

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 20, 2011

It might also be that your product isn’t complete enough, you don’t have enough evidence of success (by what ever measure is appropriate). His company had raised seed money already. He wanted a good partner, a fair valuation, and quite honestly, just some effing money! It was the silent killer.

Dilution 284

Dilution Valuation Seed Money Differentiation 284

Growthink Blog

DECEMBER 25, 2012

For example, while doggy dental products could be a wonderful niche (as almost any dog owner can attest) you could narrow your focus down to a certain type of dog (such as German Shepherds). If you are looking only at one community or small geographic region then you may well doom your product or service to failure.

Seed Money 112

Seed Money Campaign Small Business Global 112

cdixon.org

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

You’ll learn about competitive products that exist or are being built. You’ll gauge people’s excitement level for the product and for various features. Another benefit of talking freely, is that you may also find potential partners or future employees–other key components beyond investment money.

Stealth 68

Stealth Startup NDA Cofounder 68

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

So for this first post, here’s the best advice I can give you: join an awesome founding team and get your product out the door ASAP. But six months in, you’re gonna cry when you see someone else put out that same product you’re pitching me right now. Like I said, forget everything else and just get your product out the door.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 84

www.businessinsider.com

SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

Grahams startups go through a months-long process of coaching to help them build products and raise money. Google Ventures managing partner Bill Maris strongly denied Grahams accusations, calling them "patently absurd.". " Thanks to our partners. I dont know what Pauls thinking," Maris said. Its just not true. Categories.

Silicon Valley 54

Silicon Valley Startup Valuation Venture Capital 54

Scott Edward Walker

OCTOBER 28, 2014

This week, we present legendary angel investor Ron Conway (commonly referred to as the “ Godfather of Silicon Valley ”) and Marc Andreessen , a brilliant entrepreneur and co-founder and general partner of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Is this person rifle-focused and obsessed by the product?’” –Ron Conway (at 1:17).

Cap Table 67

Cap Table Cofounder Silicon Valley Venture Capital 67

Gregg Fraley, Author of Jack's Notebook

OCTOBER 12, 2012

You’re willing to jump in, but your partner isn’t. Your partner isn’t willing to move forward. If you believe in the idea, parting ways with a timid partner at the start is a good thing. Get another partner, or go it alone. Or, better yet, get an order or your new product or service, one that can fund the business.

Guerilla 87

Guerilla Seed Money Small Business Partner 87

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. We believe in great entrepreneurs and the products and companies they build. As a matter of core philosophy, we invest in companies not stages.

Seed Money 78

Seed Money Venture Capital Angel Investor Partner 78

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2010

Chris Dixon provided some commentary on Twitter that he believes I missed “the most important point about fund size.&# He’s specifically referring to his point of view that entrepreneurs shouldn’t take seed money from “big VC’s&# (he defines them as > $100 million). And then there is GRP Partners.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Term Sheet Early Stage Silicon Valley 265

Hearpreneur

DECEMBER 9, 2018

We’ve also improved productivity through some helpful tips to our employees, and become a more streamlined and efficient small business overall. Thanks to Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers ! #3- Photo Credit: Andrew Schrage. 3- A number of things. I attended Web Summit 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal this month.

South Korea 57

South Korea Entrepreneur Portugal Social Media 57

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

Rob Go

MARCH 20, 2013

So I was excited to partner with the good folks at Intelligent.ly Even Mailbox (which just got acquired by DropBox for likely a big number) I’m sure faced a trough of sorry when they shifted resources away from their original product (behind which their raised their seed round) and pursued what could have been yet another email client.

Bootstrapping 46

Bootstrapping Finance Dividend Vesting 46

Rob Go

MARCH 10, 2012

There may be little swings one way or another when markets are stronger or weaker, but for the most part, our valuation band is pretty tight (controlling for company characteristics like product maturity, quality of team, etc). In some seed rounds, we invest mainly with seed investors and angels. Syndicate diversification.

Seed Stage 49

Seed Stage Syndicate Syndication Marketing 49

pandodaily.com

NOVEMBER 29, 2012

If you are raising a seed round now, there are a few things you can do to protect yourself. There are still the same debates on whether or not you should take seed money from VCs. Entrepreneurs are survivors by nature. ” - MC. — Father of the iPod Tony Fadell on the departure of Apple exec Scott Forstall.

Technical Review 93

Technical Review Silicon Valley Incubator Syria 93

Small Business Force

AUGUST 13, 2009

You have a little seed money from savings or investments, enough to carry you for several months. But you need to get your product concept into reality and get a customer to use (and, hopefully, pay for) it. But, you're short of the necessary resources it would take to complete the product.

Vesting 28

Vesting Entrepreneur Institutional Investors Seed Money 28

Seeing Both Sides

MARCH 2, 2011

At the same time, the foursquare team was incredibly skilled at applying lean start-up best practices, specifically: Product-obsessed founders : both Dennis and Naveen were consumed with the product. Minimum viable product: they didn't wait years and years to perfect the product but instead got it out there to solicit user feedback.

API 44

API Valuation Lean Burn Rate 44

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 6, 2014

A founder will raise one party round worth of seed money and they''ll go teach a class on how to raise venture capital. I ran a viral email campaign that signed up a person a minute for the week preceding launch, and then generated a firestorm of media coverage when the product opened for business. Growth hacking? What happened?

Startup 147

Startup Venture Capital IPO Viral 147