Agile VC

AUGUST 9, 2012

But at some point the valuation of the company puts it squarely into “value” stock territory rather than the heady “momentum” stock multiples Zynga once enjoyed, not that long ago. The “value” case goes like this: A) Valuation Net of Cash – Zynga’s market cap sits at around $2.2-2.3B

Stock 160

Stock LBO .Net Valuation 160

Agile VC

JANUARY 21, 2015

Not every round of funding is closed at a “monster” valuation. But the reality of tech entrepreneurship is that not everyone is “killing it,” and certainly not all of the time. Not every startup is going to “crush” their original milestones and financial projections.

Cofounder 188

Cofounder Seed Stage Employee PR 188

Agile VC

MAY 21, 2012

There’s also a meaningful cohort of newly public companies that now have valuations of $1B+ who could seriously contemplate an acquisition of $100M+ for stock or cash… Yelp, Zillow, Tripadvisor, Jive Software, Splunk, and others. The expanding universe of potential buyers is a great thing for founders.

Acquisition 162

Acquisition Silicon Valley B2B Seed Stage 162

Agile VC

FEBRUARY 28, 2012

And when I say reservation price I don’t just mean valuation… I mean the broad contours of a round that you’d be willing to do which includes not just valuation but size of the raise, syndicate, etc. Don’t mistake smoke for fire, and make your own independent judgement whether you want to raise capital or not.

Early Stage 100

Early Stage Syndicate Syndication Silicon Valley 100

Agile VC

JANUARY 21, 2015

Not every round of funding is closed at a “monster” valuation. But the reality of tech entrepreneurship is that not everyone is “killing it,” and certainly not all of the time. Not every startup is going to “crush” their original milestones and financial projections.

Cofounder 100

Cofounder Seed Stage Employee PR 100

Agile VC

NOVEMBER 6, 2013

Investors can debate valuation, but it’s patently obvious that Facebook, LinkedIn, Workday, TripAdvisor, and many other startup IPOs of the last 1-2 years are great businesses.

IPO 194

IPO Aggregator B2B Internet 194

Agile VC

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

Providence Equity invested $100M at a $1B valuation not because of their technology or product, but because the network owners contributed a lot of valuable content… or at least access to it for 2years. Hulu’s genesis was all about content rights so it’s no surprise it’s exit is too.

Silicon Valley 100

Silicon Valley Seed Stage Syndicate Syndication 100

Agile VC

JANUARY 27, 2012

Multi-billion dollar valuations for late stage startups like Dropbox, et al. There’s one school of thought that the paradigm has changed, and startups that achieve a market value of tens of billions or more will be more frequent than in decades past.

Hockey Stick 113

Hockey Stick Seed Stage Silicon Valley Syndicate 113

Agile VC

JANUARY 13, 2016

A realignment of valuations by late stage investors? People started thinking of startup unicorns like this: Illustration for WSJ: Chris Silas Neal. What happened? Was this simply a shift in sentiment among the tech & business media? The beginning of a tech downturn?

Technical Review 157

Technical Review .Net Revenue Software Review 157

Agile VC

JULY 24, 2013

Put plainly, the subprime model of VC would be to invest in the mediocre startups at a low valuation. Or to focus solely on getting the lowest valuation as an investor, which by definition will price you out of the most desirable companies which typically have substantial demand for their equity.

Valuation 200

Valuation Early Stage Distribution LP 200

Agile VC

FEBRUARY 2, 2012

Obviously depending when an employee was granted equity, the exercise price they’d have to pay to actually purchase and own these shares outright could be quite high since Facebook’s company valuation grew rapidly.

IPO 100

IPO South Korea Venezuela Revenue 100

Agile VC

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

The IPO market remained closed to IT startups, but there were big acquisitions like Google buying YouTube for $1.65B (Fall 2006) and late stage financing rounds for companies like Facebook (Microsoft round at $15B valuation in Fall 2007). Kevin Rose was on the cover of BusinessWeek.

LP 154

LP Portfolio Venture Capital IRR 154

Agile VC

DECEMBER 6, 2012

Well at this juncture Startup X’s valuation is presumably a lot higher than it was at the Series A, maybe even 5-10x+ higher. Suppose Acme IV invests in the Series D and 6 months later there’s an acquisition offer for Startup X that’s 50% higher than the Series D post-money valuation.

LP 178

LP Balance Sheet Differentiation Limited Partner 178

Agile VC

FEBRUARY 9, 2012

Returns in venture are driven primarily by outlier outcomes, so being a great stock-picker or paying the lowest valuations does you little good if you’re selecting from a pool of mediocre opportunities or if you’re consistently unable to win great opportunities. As Peter Thiel used to say, there is no subprime model for VC.

Seed Stage 100

Seed Stage Framework Silicon Valley Early Stage 100

Agile VC

NOVEMBER 9, 2015

I’ll address potential valuation further down the post here. Unfortunately the fact that the company raised capital in private markets at a healthy valuation ($6B) and the uncertainty about having a CEO who’s attention is divided between two public companies obscures this story.

IPO 165

IPO .Net Revenue Acquisition 165