When entrepreneurs raise equity capital for startup companies, the investors’ percentage of ownership is determined by the negotiated valuation for the company at the time of investment.  For example, if the negotiated pre-money valuation is $1.5 the valuation of the company increases.  million ÷ ($1.5 million)].  MORE >>

Today, in our series on convertible debt, we examine the conversion valuation cap. The valuation cap is typically only seen in seed rounds where the investors are concerned that the next round of financing will be at a price that is at a valuation that wouldn’t reward them appropriately for taking a risk by investing early in the seed round. MORE >>

Once you have a potential investor excited about your team, your product, and your company, the investor will inevitably ask “What is your company’s valuation?” How much is NewCo worth to investors at this point (pre-money valuation)? This is the most concrete valuation element, usually called the asset approach. MORE >>

Later stage startups have revenue numbers, customer acquisition costs and marketing analyses that can all be plugged into magic financial formulae by VC whiz kids that pop out instant valuations.  Most of the time, establishing valuation ends up being a crap shoot. This is only a general guide on early stage valuation.  MORE >>

They might have some seed money and are thinking or raising a Series A based on success of an early release (MVP). Because of this, I've always tried to stay up-to-speed on how early-stage investors look at valuation of companies. Bill Payne is an expert on how early-stage investors should look at valuation. is a requirement. MORE >>