Agile VC

AUGUST 22, 2011

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Odds Are, Your Startup Probably Isn’t a Platform. I have the great privilege of meeting lots of entrepreneurs every day and hearing about the startups they’re building. But the reality is that most software-based startups aren’t really platforms. Not Dropbox.

Silicon Valley 113

Silicon Valley Seed Stage Startup Syndicate 113

Agile VC

NOVEMBER 6, 2013

As many of you know, in the past I’ve done a series of posts deconstructing the S-1s of VC-backed internet startups going public. A few years ago this was sort of a novelty… not that many startups were going public and not that many bloggers or mainstream journalists took the time or had familiarity with combing these SEC filings.

IPO 194

IPO Aggregator B2B Internet 194

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Salesforce.com is a startup with 76,000 subscribers (over 2.1M I also joke with Reid Hoffman that this was back in the days before he was “Reid” Reid’s an incredible entrepreneur, startup investor, and human being. How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC. May 26, 2011.

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

Agile VC

OCTOBER 1, 2013

I believe we’re going to look back in 2-5 years and realize that we’ve been in a once a decade boom for internet & software startups. Software revenue trails hardware slightly and ad revenue always takes a couple years to shift, but even here the results are astounding.

IPO 147

IPO Cloud Valuation Mobile 147

Agile VC

FEBRUARY 2, 2012

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. I recently wrote a post noting that while the growth cycle of startups has clearly accelerated in the last 5 years, the number of truly monster new businesses (a company ultimately worth $75-100B) remains about the same … it’s a once in a decade sort of thing. February 2, 2012.

IPO 100

IPO South Korea Venezuela Revenue 100

Agile VC

JANUARY 27, 2012

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Something has clearly changed within the last 5-6 years in terms of the speed with which monster startups are created in the software and internet space. Multi-billion dollar valuations for late stage startups like Dropbox, et al. Are Google-Scale Outcomes More Frequent?

Hockey Stick 113

Hockey Stick Seed Stage Silicon Valley Syndicate 113

Agile VC

JANUARY 13, 2016

Looking back at 2015, the standout theme in the VC/startup ecosystem was unicorn hunting. People started thinking of startup unicorns like this: Illustration for WSJ: Chris Silas Neal. The answer seems much simpler to me… the VC & startup ecosystem was seduced by growth above all else, but terminal scale still matters.

Technical Review 157

Technical Review .Net Revenue Software Review 157

Agile VC

MARCH 18, 2012

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Costolo clearly wants to position Twitter as a complementary part of the media ecosystem (which it is by and large) rather than a competitor, and there remains a chance that Twitter will have other forms of revenue besides ads. How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC. March 18, 2012.

Media 113

Media Advertising Silicon Valley Revenue 113

Agile VC

JANUARY 21, 2015

The startup ecosystem is often full of hyperbole, which is perfectly understandable when you think about it. Not every startup is going to “crush” their original milestones and financial projections. This is the vernacular of today’s startup ecosystem, for better or worse. Do No Harm. Don’t Blindside Them.

Cofounder 188

Cofounder Seed Stage Employee PR 188

Agile VC

MARCH 8, 2012

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. I remember when it was a rare, extraordinary thing for a software/internet startup to even file an S-1. What’s the impact for early-stage startups? As of this week, here’s a sample of multiples: LinkedIn – 16x+ trailing revenue. trailing revenue.

IPO 100

IPO Silicon Valley Revenue Seed Stage 100

Agile VC

JUNE 13, 2019

Chewy has rapidly grown from a startup to a multi-billion commerce company, establishing itself as the leader in pet e-commerce. revenue business still growing >50% YoY? Chewy now has over 10 million customers, repeat purchases by existing customers account for approximately 90% of their revenue today.

Leadership 100

Leadership .Net Revenue Acquisition 100

Agile VC

JANUARY 21, 2015

The startup ecosystem is often full of hyperbole, which is perfectly understandable when you think about it. Not every startup is going to “crush” their original milestones and financial projections. This is the vernacular of today’s startup ecosystem, for better or worse. Do No Harm. Don’t Blindside Them.

Cofounder 100

Cofounder Seed Stage Employee PR 100

Agile VC

FEBRUARY 7, 2012

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. I wanted to touch on ‘golazo’ as it’s my fault we use this strange verbiage, but also a critical element we look for in all the startups we invest in. These are the same qualities we’re looking for in terms of ambition and potential scale of the startups we invest in.

South Korea 124

South Korea Seed Stage Silicon Valley Syndicate 124

Agile VC

JANUARY 12, 2012

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Good investors try to be clear in terms of what they look for in terms of progress and milestones of the startups they invest in. Good investors try to be clear in terms of what they look for in terms of progress and milestones of the startups they invest in. Author howerl.

Seed Stage 100

Seed Stage Silicon Valley Syndicate Syndication 100

Agile VC

DECEMBER 5, 2011

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Objective Logistics has created a game layer on top of very sophisticated scheduling algorithms which increase revenue, save time, and improve customer and staff satisfaction. How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC. How To Think About The Future. December 5, 2011. What’s Your Favorite Future?

Silicon Valley 100

Silicon Valley Seed Stage Syndicate Syndication 100

Agile VC

MAY 23, 2012

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. E-commerce accounts for the vast majority of LL Bean’s revenue today ( it crossed 50% in 2010 though was as low as 15% in 2000 ), but because LL Bean is over a hundred years old and started as catalog & physical store retailer we typically don’t refer to it as an internet company.

Internet 182

Internet Silicon Valley IPO Seed Stage 182

Agile VC

AUGUST 1, 2012

About 6-12 months ago you could hardly throw a rock in the startup ecosystem without hitting a VC expressing their enthusiasm for “mobile” Now the frenzy about mobile has extended into the mass media and public equity markets, though with trepidation as often as excitement. productivity – Evernote).

Mobile 160

Mobile Advertising Bandwidth Web 160

Agile VC

APRIL 13, 2012

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Urbanization of Startups. I spent some time with some startups in San Francisco proper, as opposed to the heart of Silicon Valley (see Note 1). Also all the big anchor companies that a startup might want to partner with at that time (eBay, Google, Oracle, Yahoo!, April 13, 2012.

Silicon Valley 185

Silicon Valley San Francisco San Jose Startup 185

Agile VC

NOVEMBER 7, 2019

Like many things in life, the VC/startup ecosystem is one of cycles. But let’s look back at the last decade in VC-backed startups… it’s easy to forget how predominant mindsets change throughout the cycle. VC funding for startups is drying up quickly. Year over year revenue growth rates are measured in multiples not percentages.

IPO 100

IPO Early Stage Cofounder B2C 100

Agile VC

AUGUST 12, 2011

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. The simple answer is “be able to convince a partnership of smart investors that your startup has a good probability of being a $100M+ revenue company within 5ish years.” How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC. How To Think About The Future. August 12, 2011.

Seed Stage 113

Seed Stage Silicon Valley B2B Acquisition 113

Agile VC

MARCH 30, 2012

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Some believe that there are “new” revenue models being created by consumer web companies, like virtual goods or “freemium” services. Their first revenue stream is simply inserting affiliate links to e-tailers into the pinboards that users create. March 30, 2012.

Business Model 113

Business Model Silicon Valley Advertising B2B 113

Agile VC

MAY 7, 2014

Alibaba’s Genesis Alibaba was founded in 1999 by Jack Ma and 17 other colleagues, and like most startups they began as a small group working out of Ma’s apartment in Hangzhou. Today the B2B (aka wholesale) portion of the business only accounts for about 11% of Alibaba Group’s overall revenue.

China 187

China B2B Flash IPO 187

Agile VC

NOVEMBER 9, 2015

There’s been ample coverage in the popular press of course highlighting everything from the company’s revenue growth, lack of profitability, and the well-publicized fact that founder/CEO Jack Dorsey is also CEO of Twitter so would theoretically be running two public companies simultaneously. Revenue Composition. Starbucks Deal.

IPO 165

IPO .Net Revenue Acquisition 165