View from Seed

MARCH 24, 2021

What Are Your Valuation Expectations? But mainly we did it because these corporate VCs were among the only groups willing to invest at PayPal’s somewhat inflated post-money valuation, during the middle of the dot-com crash when traditional VCs pulled back sharply and other sources of funding were constrained.” ” (Rob Go).

Seed Stage 177

Seed Stage Hiring IPO Analytics 177

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AUGUST 17, 2021

90% of the airtime around ownership and valuations is focused on what happens when the first check is written. Effective post money is the effective valuation of an investor’s dollars at any one time. Also, being too dogmatic isn’t very fun J. What matters is effective post-money at exit. We think about this a lot too.

IRR 156

IRR Dilution Founder Portfolio 156

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

Or is there a major disconnect between a portfolio’s valuations and the actual dollars returned to LPs? Both early- and late-stage startup valuations are currently elevated. For context, seed-stage pre-money valuations are up 24% from H1 2020 to H1 2021. How have more recent vintages performed? Source: Cambridge Associates.

Valuation 156

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Distribution Early Stage 156

View from Seed

AUGUST 17, 2021

90% of the airtime around ownership and valuations is focused on what happens when the first check is written. Effective post money is the effective valuation of an investor’s dollars at any one time. Also, being too dogmatic isn’t very fun J. What matters is effective post-money at exit. We think about this a lot too.

IRR 136

IRR Dilution Founder Portfolio 136

View from Seed

JANUARY 2, 2024

Likewise, institutional seeds are all over the map both in terms of round profiles, valuations, and the players involved. So “pre-seeds” can look like $1M on $8M post for certain profiles of founders and companies. Or they look like $10M on an uncapped note for a different profile. Some go pre-seed straight to A.

Early Stage 177

Early Stage Valuation Distribution Founder 177

View from Seed

DECEMBER 6, 2018

It’s almost exactly 5 years since Aileen Lee first coined the term “unicorn” in reference to startups with $1 billion+ valuations. A few of these had previously raised private rounds at $1B+ valuations like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, but a good majority of them only reached unicorn status upon exit. valuation in 2017 round).

IPO 120

IPO Valuation San Francisco Silicon Valley 120

View from Seed

AUGUST 30, 2019

how much the company is raising, valuation expectations, round/syndicate dynamics, etc.). I can see this being a doable deal at an $X pre-money valuation with a $Y check from us. ” . During the debrief, we would discuss not only aspects of the company (i.e.

Pre-Money Valuation 174

Pre-Money Valuation Syndicate Syndication Valuation 174

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JANUARY 27, 2021

In our first two funds, we’ve been fortunate to seed five unicorns ( Attentive , Whoop , Grove Collaborative , Skillz , and TripleLift ) and 10 companies with $100M+ exits or recent valuations. Thirteen of these 15 companies were seeded pre-revenue, and many were at concept stage or had rudimentary early products.

LP 411

LP Early Stage Seed Stage Venture Capital 411

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 23, 2019

To provide relevant perspective, listing past convertible note(s) and/or equity financing(s) including total round size and valuation (caps) is helpful. What not to include is directly stating valuation expectations. First, it’s helpful to enumerate the startup’s funding history to date.

Cap Table 211

Cap Table Seed Stage Valuation Dilution 211

View from Seed

JANUARY 10, 2022

We’re running our new and improved accelerator program back, we’re doubling our offering and raising the valuation cap (hello $400K) , and we’d love for you and your team to apply. We’re upping our offering from $200K to $400K and raising the valuation cap upon acceptance into the program. Why we started the program in the first place.

San Diego 156

San Diego San Francisco Alabama Valuation 156

View from Seed

APRIL 5, 2016

Likewise, true grit is defined by so much more than company growth and valuations. Founders’ stories can be truly heroic, but inspiring stories don’t start and end with them. As a community, we need more of these stories worth celebrating. We need more Rachael Burgers. * * *. How to Land the Perfect Startup Job.

Founder 120

Founder Web Development Web Community 120

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 23, 2021

While there have been many reports of crazy valuations and extreme perceived success, the experience of the vast majority of entrepreneurs is much more of a grind. Anyway, I thought I’d share this sentiment publicly as we approach Thanksgiving in the United States and the end of a pretty crazy year for the startup world.

Startup 227

Startup United States Valuation Stock 227

View from Seed

JANUARY 11, 2021

Despite the sustained climate of uncertainty, valuations continued to climb and VC exit values reached their second highest total ever in Q3. Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos saw a once $9 billion valuation dissolve into 12 felony fraud charges. VC fundraising has also remained strong as firms look ahead, with VCs raising $42.7

Venture Capital 350

Venture Capital Cofounder Early Stage Seed Stage 350

View from Seed

MAY 31, 2019

Some of the founders in our portfolio have an exceptional ability to raise additional capital (and at loftier valuations) remarkably ahead of where the underlying metrics of the business current would yield. My partners and I most often talk about defying gravity in the context of fundraising.

Valuation 149

Valuation Portfolio Metrics Founder 149

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2019

In the last decade or so, high profile consumer IPOs have often gotten lofty valuations. And Zoom has become the most valuable of the three in terms of market cap though daily fluctuations put it and Lyft fairly close ($16B+).

IPO 180

IPO B2B B2C Institutional Investors 180

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

From the public markets to the private markets, everyone is feeling valuations and optimism contract. In other words, while lots of things floated up with increasing frothiness they are going to be harder to drive down quickly the same way valuations and invested capital has collapsed in the last three months.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage San Francisco Startup Valuation 120

View from Seed

MARCH 24, 2015

There is a shocking disconnect between public market valuations and private market valuations. Tumblr’s user growth wasn’t actually very fast in the early years, for instance, but over time, the community became incredibly rich and robust.

Valuation 120

Valuation Startup IPO Finance 120

View from Seed

JANUARY 7, 2020

One way to think about this is how many high potential startups are in each market that have a chance of becoming a significant company and driving outsized return.

New York 207

New York Boston Marketing Aggregator 207

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

” Venture debt gives you those options, and particularly for companies that wind up doing well, then on your same cash-out date, you’d likely have achieved a better milestone thanks to fueling your spend, which would translate into a better valuation. NVV: Let’s talk about the seed stage specifically.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

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JUNE 10, 2020

We will work alongside you to make introductions to peer VCs in order to create a competitive dynamic – finding the best-fit firm to lead your next round at the market-determined valuation which your company deserves.

Cofounder 177

Cofounder Syndicate Syndication Alabama 177

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SEPTEMBER 25, 2019

Something standard like a SaaS company where the exits scenarios and valuations are well-understood may not need a slide here, but the more non-traditional or unique the venture is, the more information which a Founder can fill in the blanks of “what could be” are helpful.

Seed Stage 166

Seed Stage Retention Restful Valuation 166

View from Seed

APRIL 2, 2020

Massive bull markets in the public equity markets in recent years translated to very bullish markets in the private VC markets, which translated to really big rounds and really high valuations. It translated into FOMO thinking by many people across the ecosystem.

Partner 156

Partner Marketing Portfolio Early Stage 156

View from Seed

JUNE 11, 2019

I believe it’s more important to optimize on the right lead investor vs. the highest valuations at the seed stage (within reason). So really take your time to do your due diligence on the investor (both the individual and the firm). I’ve also found that the best lead investors tend to be somewhat more price sensitive.

Syndicate 202

Syndicate Syndication Seed Stage Lead Investor 202

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 13, 2018

Effective) post-money valuation. Lastly, the post-money valuation is a strong signal for the expectations for the next round of financing, which may not be congruent with the sentiment once evaluating the company in the context of the time and money was utilized so far. How much time has elapsed since company founding. raise $1.8M

Seed Stage 136

Seed Stage Post-Money Valuation Valuation Startup 136

View from Seed

AUGUST 6, 2015

With this information an employee or potential employee can understand how much their X-thousands of shares are actually worth in ownership and, at least on paper, in dollars against the total valuation. When joining a startup, the common refrain from everyone on the team is we’re in this together to create something new, amazing, and big.

Equity 120

Equity Employee Cap Table Stock Options 120

View from Seed

AUGUST 6, 2015

With this information an employee or potential employee can understand how much their X-thousands of shares are actually worth in ownership and, at least on paper, in dollars against the total valuation. When joining a startup, the common refrain from everyone on the team is we’re in this together to create something new, amazing, and big.

Equity 120

Equity Employee Cap Table Stock Options 120

View from Seed

DECEMBER 11, 2019

Yes, there are intermittent points of feedback along the way, like valuation marks from subsequent rounds of financing. The median average investment time period to liquidity for a venture investment is currently 6.5-7.5

Venture Capital 204

Venture Capital Cap Table Partner LP 204

View from Seed

JANUARY 26, 2016

This means that it has rewarded Series A and B investors for chasing momentum and made it less important for these investors to focus on valuation or sound, early unit economics. Also, the stage of the company tends to be very early. But this is why stage alone does not define a pre-seed.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Early Stage Cofounder Finance 120

View from Seed

OCTOBER 15, 2014

Examples of housekeeping include the following list, though not every item will appear every time: Finance: Cash out date, burn rate, 409A valuation, cap table, common/preferred stock dashboard. However, these are important updates for your board to know.

Seed Stage 331

Seed Stage Cap Table Metrics Burn Rate 331

View from Seed

MAY 2, 2019

But prior to actual data, valuation ends up being driven entirely by demand, competition, and ownership targets. The downside is that raising a lot of capital before PMF is often a pretty risky proposition, and could lead to premature scaling as well as a valuation overhang down the road.

Early Stage 214

Early Stage Dilution Valuation .Net 214

View from Seed

AUGUST 20, 2014

If the company is doing really well, the VC will have an incentive to try to do more of the next round at perhaps not the highest possible valuation. Series A Dynamics: This is a middle-of-the-road outcome in terms of optimizing your next round of financing. Their aggressiveness sends a signal to the market.

Startup 301

Startup Syndicate Syndication Boston 301

View from Seed

JANUARY 11, 2017

But mainly we did it because these corporate VCs were among the only groups willing to invest at PayPal’s somewhat inflated post-money valuation, during the middle of the dot-com crash when traditional VCs pulled back sharply and other sources of funding were constrained.

Strategic Investors 120

Strategic Investors Post-Money Valuation Seed Stage Cofounder 120

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 18, 2020

Uber is an $85B+ market cap company today but is essentially flat to its IPO price and late private round valuations. If that proves to be right, Airbnb may ultimately be a company where the majority of the value creation has occurred in the private markets over the last 13 years.

North America 401

North America IPO Prospectus Europe 401

View from Seed

JANUARY 20, 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 120

Cofounder Startup Employee PR 120

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 19, 2015

It’s nice to get great valuations and hire A-players. Don’t think that because it’s all different that it’s worthless. Your job is to seek out diverse perspectives, assimilate the information, and make a decision. Keep at it. Be pragmatic. But sometimes you can’t.

Founder 120

Founder Startup Cofounder Business Model 120

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 16, 2016

As of January 20, 2016, based on the “CrunchBase Unicorn Leaderboard,” there are 157 unicorns (companies with $1 billion+ valuations) which have not IPOed or been acquired—and more start-ups reaching unicorn status every day. Unicorns have been over-hyped during the past few years, and nowadays frequently attacked by skeptics. Key Insights.

Programming 120

Programming St. Louis Cofounder India 120

View from Seed

JUNE 30, 2015

think about terms (you may get more dilution later, but you don’t want to create valuation overhang either), and think about your pace of capital deployment (slow until you have strong PMF). We’re not at normal yet.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Syndicate Syndication Dilution 120