Steve Blank

MAY 9, 2017

I’ve seen the Valley grow from Sunnyvale to Santa Clara to today where it stretches from San Jose to South of Market in San Francisco. I’ve watched the Valley go from Microwave Valley – to Defense Valley – to Silicon Valley to Internet Valley. So how did this happen? Where is it going?

Restful 222

Restful Silicon Valley Puerto Rico San Jose 222

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2016

At the Upfront Summit in early February, we had a chance to have many off-the-record conversations with Limited Partners (LPs) who fund Venture Capital (VC) funds about their views of the market. …But LPs Have Been Putting Out More Money Than They Are Getting Back. That’s money that fuels our startup ecosystems.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital LP Silicon Valley Marketing 150

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

The mantra of “ first mover advantage ,” the idea that winners are the ones who are the first entrants in their market, became the conventional wisdom of investors in Silicon Valley.“ And to be honest, VC’s in this bubble really didn’t care. The Rise of the Lean Startup. The Rise of the Lean Startup.

Lean 335

Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO 335

Steve Blank

APRIL 11, 2013

Torch has four major parts: Innovation Clusters , Technology Business Incubators (TBIs), Seed Funding (Innofund) and Venture Guiding Fund. Examples are Hollywood for movies, Milan for fashion, New York for finance and today, Silicon Valley for technology entrepreneurship. It has become China’s Silicon Valley.

Programming 170

Programming Technical Review SBIR China 170

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 24, 2010

Over the last half a century, Silicon Valley has grown into the leading technology and innovation cluster for the United States and the world. The pattern for the valley seemed to be clear. Startups traditionally required millions of dollars of funding just to get their first product to customers.

Silicon Valley 335

Silicon Valley United States Venture Capital Software Review 335

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

To turn your company’s stock into cash, you engaged a top-notch investment bank (Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs) and/or their Silicon Valley compatriots (Hambrecht & Quist, Montgomery Securities, Robertson Stephens). This era was a “buyer’s market” – there were more good companies looking to get funded than there were VCs.

Founder 245

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 245

Haystack

DECEMBER 29, 2018

It’s that time of year, time to look back and reflect on the most significant storylines in the tech, startup, and VC world. And as more economies worldwide seek to shift their investment strategies offshore and seek out technology, hubs like Silicon Valley and Shanghai, among others, have reaped the benefits.

Technical Review 165

Technical Review Venture Capital Russia China 165

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC. Silicon Valley is still emerging from the tech bubble and massive downturn of late 2000-2002. He provided our initial seed funding to launch the website publicly on May 5, 2003. How To Think About The Future. AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. May 26, 2011.

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

Haystack

JULY 20, 2018

But, it wasn’t directionally wrong, looking at enormous multinational companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook which rose from the hallowed ground of Silicon Valley. Will the next company to raise $100M in financing just poach from decent seed-stage companies and pay triple the amount to lock up talent?

San Francisco 116

San Francisco Silicon Valley Seattle Venture Capital 116

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

Over the past 4 years LA’s tech fundings have growing at a 30% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) which is > 4 times the US average VC CAGR (7%). Many people don’t realize that the majority of the monetization of the Internet originated in Los Angeles but was perfected in Silicon Valley. It is different.

Los Angeles 376

Los Angeles Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Seattle 376

Cracking the Code

MARCH 28, 2022

The $900M of SaaS VC funding in 2015 now represents less than Europe's largest financing round, with Celonis raising $1B in June this year. Looking at newcomers, this year has seen two companies break the $100B market cap mark: ServiceNow and Square, pushed by the rise of enterprise automation and digital payments respectively.

Global 62

Global Europe Software Review 62

Agile VC

JANUARY 4, 2012

How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC. Today one of our portfolio companies, GrabCAD, announced it’s Series A funding led by Matrix. NextView originally invested in the company’s seed round in the spring of 2011 and we again participated in this latest round along with Atlas Venture. January 4, 2012.

Community 100

Community Estonia Syndicate Syndication 100

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 5, 2017

At the outset, it is worth noting that when it comes to the world of venture funding, I am a bit of an outsider. Until a handful of years ago, I didn’t even know what venture capital was, let alone anything about the complicated process of actually acquiring VC funding. I don’t know this world on an intimate, personal level.

Venture Capital 82

Venture Capital Lean Cofounder Technical Review 82

Agile VC

APRIL 17, 2011

How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC. GameFly filed in 2010 and remains in registration, though 2011 has seen a positive start for VC-backed IPOs with 14 in Q1 2011. Pre-IPO Funding History: Kayak has raised approximately $235M in VC funding to date. How To Think About The Future. Cliff Notes S-1: Kayak.

Pre-Money Valuation 113

Pre-Money Valuation Liquidation Preference Dividend Common Stock 113

VC Cafe

MARCH 11, 2010

A midst a 72% decline in funds raised by Israeli venture capital funds in 2009, Battery Ventures announced the completion of its new fund, BV-9, totaling $750 million. This is one of the largest funds raised in the first quarter of 2010 as VC funds struggle to raise money due to poor performance and low liquidity.

North America 76

North America Silicon Valley Private Equity 76

K9 Ventures

JUNE 5, 2015

Almost two years ago, in a private/closed meeting with K9 Ventures’ LPs only, I claimed that: What was being referred to in the press as the “Series A Crunch” was not because fewer Series A deals were being done, but because there were too many Seed deals being done. Seed stage was super tough. Seed is the New A. The Epilogue.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation 48

pandodaily.com

NOVEMBER 29, 2012

But what it means for the Valley, and when this tidal wave of companies unable to raise more cash will hit the beach, remains frustratingly hard to quantify. We know this: As many as a thousand companies who’ve received seed rounds won’t be around in a year — maybe six months. They decided to fight back.

Technical Review 93

Technical Review Silicon Valley Incubator Syria 93

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2014

I have never been more optimistic about the impact that the tech startup community is having on cities in America or about the role that cities outside of San Francisco / Silicon Valley can play in our future. Not all of these products & companies came from Silicon Valley but the overwhelming majority did.

Silicon Valley 390

Silicon Valley Kansas City Startup Venture Capital 390

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2016

The funding environment for tech startups is an ever shifting ground as we go through predictable shifts that go hand-in-hand with the slowing of the overall market. Rise of Seed. In other words, it isn’t that VCs suddenly got smart, it’s that the costs of starting a company went down dramatically. Rise of Angels.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Silicon Valley Burn Rate LP 150

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 11, 2020

The rise of CVC volume is well documented (see post on VC Cafe), but what’s less discussed is funds started by mature startups or “new corporates” These are funds launched by venture backed companies to deploy capital into early stage startups innovating in their space. Startup Funds.

Balance Sheet 201

Balance Sheet Startup IPO Venture Capital 201

500hats.com

AUGUST 2, 2012

Big Funds, Big Brands, Big Data. While institutional LPs know big changes are happening, most focus too much on 1) increasing/decreasing fund size or 2) marketing + branding as the major trends. Mega VC, Micro VC. note: apologies in advance for the west coast bias; i’m in silicon valley).

Silicon Valley 74

Silicon Valley Early Stage Venture Capital Valuation 74

Steve Blank

APRIL 12, 2013

This post is about the rise of Chinese venture capital and how it helped build the countries entrepreneurial ecosystem. The Rise of Chinese Venture Capital. The first wave of startups began when R&D centers and universities began to provide the technology and seed capital for new startups that were spin-outs or spin-offs.

Venture Capital 271

Venture Capital China Offshore SBIR 271

Business Plan Blog

JULY 31, 2013

Seed VC Funding in Bay Area on Pace for Record Year. Seed funding in the San Francisco area appears to be on pace for another record year. Seed deals in 2013 have seen a massive push towards the mobile sector with a contraction to the online sector. Funding By Sector.

Silicon Valley 45

Silicon Valley San Francisco Mobile Internet 45

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 3, 2010

Silicon Sentier is perhaps the best-known player in the Paris startup scene. Among other activities and programs, Silicon Sentier runs La Cantine , a coworking center, hip geek hangout and bustling hub for Paris tech events and activities: barcamps, workshops, competitions, launch parties, press conferences - you name it. The Funding.

France 163

France Technical Review Incubator Early Stage 163

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 8, 2012

Brad Feld’s new book Startup Communities joins the two other “must reads,” ( Regional Advantage and Startup Nation ) and one “must view” ( The Secret History of Silicon Valley ) for anyone trying to understand the components of a regional cluster. There is no guaranteed funding. Leaders and Feeders. Role of Universities.

Community 333

Community Silicon Valley San Francisco Venture Capital 333

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 22, 2011

If you’re a visiting dignitary whose country has a Gross National Product equal to or greater than the State of California, your visit to Silicon Valley consists of a lunch/dinner with some combination of the founders of Google, Facebook, Apple and Twitter and several brand name venture capitalists. Hackers’ Guide to Silicon Valley.

Silicon Valley 335

Silicon Valley San Francisco San Jose Venture Capital 335

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

I believe the rise in angel investing is here to stay and the professionalization of this class (aka “super angels&# or “micro VC&# ) is a good thing for the VC industry and for entrepreneurs. Angel and super-seed investing are currently the “hot” area of the market right now and for good reasons.

Silicon Valley 306

Silicon Valley Deal Flow Angel Investor Cofounder 306

Steve Blank

APRIL 12, 2013

This post is about the rise of Chinese venture capital and how it helped build the countries entrepreneurial ecosystem. The Rise of Chinese Venture Capital. The first wave of startups began when R&D centers and universities began to provide the technology and seed capital for new startups that were spin-outs or spin-offs.

Venture Capital 163

Venture Capital China Offshore SBIR 163

www.vccafe.com

MARCH 11, 2013

About VC Cafe. VC & Startup Resources. VC Cafe highlights everything you need to know from hosting your code in hackathons to open source legal docs. Seed Startups. VC Cafe covers early stage Israeli and European tech & mobile startups. Boilerplate Venture Funding Documents. Series Seed Documents â??

Software Review 53

Software Review Technical Review Startup 53

Austin Startup

MARCH 7, 2021

I’ve long believed science is the answer,” said Dallas philanthropist Lyda Hill, “But funding for innovation in science has some unique challenges. In 2019 and 2020, we saw hundreds of millions of dollars in non-dilutive funding go to Texas startups, most of which had never worked with the government before.

Texas 90

Texas San Antonio Houston Dallas 90

abovethecrowd.com

APRIL 20, 2016

Ironically, Carreyou is not a Silicon Valley-focused reporter, and the success of the piece served as a wake-up call for other journalists who may have been struck by Unicorn fever. Late 2015 also brought the arrival of “mutual fund markdowns.” Many Unicorns had taken private fundraising dollars from mutual funds.

IPO 40

IPO Term Sheet Silicon Valley Valuation 40

Steve Blank

MARCH 18, 2011

The signals are loud and clear : seed and late stage valuations are getting frothy and wacky, and hiring talent in Silicon Valley is the toughest it has been since the dot.com bubble. Startups needed millions of dollars of funding just to get their first product out the door to customers. Carpe Diem.

Internet 334

Internet IPO Silicon Valley Agile 334

techcrunch.com

FEBRUARY 19, 2010

According to VCs, there’s been a 65% decrease in up-rounds (where a company gets a bigger valuation) in the last six months and more than 60% of those polled expect a longer wait for an exit. Similarly, the bulk of the companies getting funding are still California-based. 41% of them feel that they qualify for venture capital funding.

Venture Capital 62

Venture Capital Technical Review Sweat Equity Valuation 62

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

I was saying that I was happy it was all out in the open because I felt at least everybody could now understand the issues & opportunities from the perspectives of angels, entrepreneurs and VCs. Let’s be clear: AngelList doesn’t scare a single VC I know. But it’s not cutting VCs out. It is additive.

Valuation 292

Valuation Deal Flow Lead Investor Cofounder 292

Ben's Blog

APRIL 7, 2021

Economic inequality and opportunities for job growth are directly correlated with overall spending levels on R&D and with the geographic concentration (or distribution) or those dollars — both public funding (government) and private (as with VC). In the case of Silicon Valley, it was a combination of: Universities like Stanford.

Silicon Valley 36

Silicon Valley Non-Compete San Francisco Government 36

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 28, 2019

Hear pitches from startups, investors, and partners Develop relationships between local and visiting investors so we can start to co-invest together VC Reverse Pitch What will do we do in each city? I believe that funding levels are a trailing indicator that tell us more about what has already happened than what’s to come. Big thanks!

Texas 50

Texas San Antonio Houston Dallas 50

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

What is the True Sentiment of VCs? I recently survey more than 150 VC friends from all stages and geographies what they thought about the market by asking “Which of the following statements best describes your mood heading into 2016?” ” “This will be great for VCs and bad for entrepreneurs.”

Valuation 150

Valuation Down Round Startup Later Stage 150