Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 7, 2013

Based on the final report for 2012 from Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), it may appear that IPOs are back as a viable startup exit strategy. For the full year 2012, venture-backed initial public offerings raised $21.5 To make this work, you will need an initial valuation of at least $5M.

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Venture Capital IPO Elevator Pitch Initial Public Offering 252

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 30, 2011

This is the final part of a 3-part series on the major changes in the structure of the software & the venture capital industries. But … Downsizing Venture Capital. The venture capital business itself is going through an even more fundamental change than just the entry of a new category at the earliest stage.

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

Back in 1999 when I first raised venture capital I had zero knowledge of what a fair term sheet looked like or how to value my company. Other founders, “as a privately held company we don’t disclose our valuation.&# Me, “dude, I’m not a journalist. I turned them down. They were nonplussed.

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Valuation Liquidation Preference Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 405

Growthink Blog

MAY 20, 2011

So, Mike tells me he wants to raise a first round of venture capital based on a $100 million valuation. Now, anyone who knows anything about venture capital will literally laugh when they read a line like that. Getting a $100 Million valuation is impossible for a startup. you have customers).

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Venture Capital Valuation NDA Non-disclosure Agreement 109

Gust

OCTOBER 18, 2011

This is the first of a six part series on different methods used by angel investors to arrive at pre-money startup valuations. The Venture Capital Method. The Venture Capital Method (VC Method) was first described by Professor Bill Sahlman at Harvard Business School in 1987 in a case study and has been revised since.

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Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Southern California Post-Money Valuation 174

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 14, 2016

As an entrepreneur, though, you should look no further than Fab.com as a cautionary tale of venture capital. Before a quiet acquisition by PCH Innovations for just $15 million, Fab had raised 11 rounds of VC funding at a $900 million valuation. The Drawbacks of Venture Capital.

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Venture Capital Securities and Exchange Commission New York City Cofounder 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. percent of venture capital deals, and received.33

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Venture Capital Lean Cofounder Technical Review 82

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 15, 2010

I was on This Week in Venture Capital (TWiVC) again this week with Jason Calacanis. billion valuation. They only recently raised $30 million at around a $300 million valuation and THAT raised eyebrows. The question will be “at what price?&# And for investors, “at what valuation did they get in?&#. $10

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Venture Capital Affiliate Valuation San Francisco 271

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 11, 2023

Seed venture capital firms can make more significant follow-on investments to keep or increase their equity stake in the company. Analysts perform a valuation of the company in question before the beginning of any round of funding. How does the funding for the seed stage work? What is the Evaluation of the Funding?

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Seed Stage Technical Review Early Stage Due Diligence 125

View from Seed

JANUARY 11, 2021

Noting our own experience, we questioned whether the fast proliferation of virtual interaction introduced by the COVID-19 crisis had changed investor decision-making more broadly across the venture capital industry. Following initial decision paralysis, many venture capitalists have returned to pace. billion in under a year.

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VC Cafe

JUNE 10, 2022

For the past few week I’ve been sharing here the impact of the current downturn that started in the public markets on startups and venture capital. According to new research by Pitchbook , the trickle down effect has already started in seed and series A startups with round sizes and valuations shrinking in size compared to 2021.

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VC Cafe

OCTOBER 31, 2022

Mature startups with proven business models and the potential to reach the public markets within a few years will be the safest place to park any new venture capital that comes into the ecosystem. Tiger, Softbank and other crossover funds are slowing down significantly and valuations overall are down significantly.

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Founder Technical Review Down Round Liquidation Preference 173

VC Cafe

MAY 29, 2022

Building on my post on ‘ Advice for startups in a downturn (May 2022 edition) ‘, this week I continued to follow with interest the impact of the current correction on startups and venture capital, particularly in early stage. How much of the slowdown in venture capital is real vs. ‘doom and gloom’ headlines.

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Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation Startup 183

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

I’ve heard a lot of people question whether there is too much money in venture capital chasing too few great deals. Valuations are out of control” is the mantra of others. Others believe that new business models are emerging that could replace venture capital all together. We’re in a new tech bubble!”

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 11, 2022

Hopefully you can see from this list that the people and processes involved in financing a nonprofit have little in common with angel investors, or the venture capital process. Some nonprofit entrepreneurs think they can skip the whole plan, rather than just the sections on valuation, equity offered, and exit strategy.

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Angel Investor Equity Technical Review Exit Strategy 327

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 25, 2015

In January, Jerry Neumann wrote a long and detailed analysis of his view of the VC industry in the 1980’s titled Heat Death: Venture Capital in the 1980’s. My advice to a venture capitalist, then, now or later, is simple: Do what you know, do what you love; build great companies and over time you will succeed.

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Venture Capital SBIC Technical Review Silicon Valley 70

David Teten

MAY 16, 2017

I’ve written a number of pieces relevant if you are fundraising for a private equity or venture capital fund – I suggest my presentation on raising capital for tech companies and How to Write a Resume that Wins Investors. Meyler Capital. I’ve compiled here the best other resources I’ve found.

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Private Equity Venture Capital Technical Review Equity 60

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

Private equity and venture capital investors are copying our sisters in the hedge fund and mutual fund world: we’re trying to automate more of our job. The most visible evidence of the trend towards automation is an increasing number of engineers working at venture capital and private equity funds.

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Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 12, 2009

Brendan McManus said: “Lessons Learned” – A New Type of Venture Capital Pitch [link] #startup #advice [.] Lessons Learned” – A New Type of Venture Capital Pitch « Steve Blank (tags: presentations presuation vc startup) [.] Lessons Learned” – A New Type of Venture Capital Pitch [.]

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VC Cafe

APRIL 26, 2021

In March 2021, Israeli venture capital fund Benson Oak introduced a “passionware” as a new category of software tools and platforms? billion valuation just one year from funding, or Israeli founded Deel, that recently raised $156M series C at a $1.25 Paissionware (B2SMB). Take Wiz for example, that grew to $1.7

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Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Startup 215

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

There has been much discussion in the past few years of the changing structure of the venture capital industry. The rise of alternative sources of capital (crowd funding and the like). We are in a bubble (with so many private $1bn+ valuations). On the surface the narratives have been. Where are we today? billion). .”

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Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 398

Gust

NOVEMBER 7, 2011

We recently started a series of posts on establishing the pre-money valuation of pre-revenue startup companies for purposes of investment by seed and startup investors. This calculator uses 25 questions to size up the progress of the new venture and calculate a pre-money valuation for investment purposes.

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Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Venture Capital Technical Review 87

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

Over the past month a colleague ( Chang Xu ) and I sifted through data on the venture capital industry (as we do every year) and made a bunch of calls to VCs and LPs to confirm our hypotheses. As a result of the IPO window shifting we saw a massive inflow of public-market capital into the latest stages of venture.

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Venture Capital Technical Review Seed Stage IPO 328

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

On the phone … Me: So, you raised venture capital? Me: There is no rational explanation for valuations of A round companies by ANY objective financial measure. How do you think they’ll feel if your next round is at a $50 million post money valuation and their hard-earned $25,000 is worth 0.05% of your company?

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Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet 417

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

When Netscape went public, it unleashed a frenzy from the public markets for anything related to the internet and signaled to venture investors that there were massive returns to be made investing in anything internet related. After the crash, venture capital was scarce to non-existent. Then one day it was over. IPOs dried up.

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Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO 335

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 26, 2022

ValuatIon should be a function of value, not ego. Kawasaki’s Law of Pre-Money Valuation: for every full-time engineer, add $500,000; for every full-time M.B.A., But valuations, especially those in the private market, are not necessarily a predictor of growth/ success. Our goals, their goals. subtract $250,000. 9M Seed: $20M ?

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Founder Startup Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 187

View from Seed

DECEMBER 11, 2019

But even at the Partner-level, the amount of transition in Venture Capital is much more than you perhaps would expect… especially in a business which should have a long term orientation with portfolio investment-hold periods and Partnerships lasting more than a decade. So why is there so much turnover in Venture Capital?

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Venture Capital Cap Table Partner LP 204

Gust

NOVEMBER 2, 2011

We recently started a series of posts on establishing the pre-money valuation of pre-revenue startup companies for purposes of investment by seed and startup investors. He has invested in more than 70 startup ventures. Dave’s valuation model first appeared in a book published by Harvard’s Howard Stevenson in the middle nineties.

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Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Intellectual Property Southern California 79

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 28, 2018

Every VC knows that the amount you raise is often a proxy for your valuation. So when you say $8–10m is your goal and you aren’t at all thinking about your valuation know that a VC hears “$24–40 million pre-money valuation expectations.” This part of a series to help you raise venture capital ?—?the

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Burn Rate Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Dilution 247

VC Cafe

JANUARY 29, 2024

It’s easy to find bad news about venture capital these days. In other words, the venture capital bust has only just started. 2023 was a rough year for Venture Capital and for startups, and it might get even worse. Global venture funding fell 42% year over years to $248.8

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Generative AI Global Venture Capital Valuation 171

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2017

It was only a year ago that many in the Venture Capital industry were predicting that “winter was coming” and to be fair the author of this post was chief amongst them. So if funding from VCs slowed, valuations dropped and burn rates were slashed, WTF happened to winter again? Baidu alone raised $3.2

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Gust

NOVEMBER 15, 2011

The Risk Factor Summation Method the fifth methodology for estimating the pre-money valuation of pre-revenue companies we have described in recent posts. Readers may have noted that both the Scorecard Method and the Dave Berkus Method considered a narrow set of important criteria for investment in arriving at a pre-money valuation.

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Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Ohio Early Stage 102

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

But becoming a Unicorn, or receiving a billion dollar valuation is no longer an indication of growth. The term ‘Centaur’, coined by venture capital firm Bessemer, indicates companies that achieved $100M in annual recurring revenue (ARR). Today there are over 1,000 unicorns globally.

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Software Review B2C Open Source 109

VC Adventure

JUNE 14, 2022

Companies looking to raise money turn to venture capital for a variety of reasons. Top among them is generally access to capital, but often on the list is the hope that raising capital from experienced (and well-networked) investors will have other positive impacts on their business.

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Technical Review Due Diligence Portfolio Venture Capital 150

Steve Blank

APRIL 26, 2022

At the turn of the century after the dotcom crash, startup valuations plummeted, burn rates were unsustainable, and startups were quickly running out of cash. Except, that is, for the bottom feeders of the Venture Capital business – investors who “ cram down ” their companies. A cram down is different than a down round.

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

how on Earth could the venture capital market stand still? One of the most common questions I’m asked by people intrigued by but also scared by venture capital and technology markets is some variant of, “Aren’t technology markets way overvalued? With the enormous changes to our economies and financial markets?—?how

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Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Venture Capital Early Stage 471

Women Entrepreneurs Can

NOVEMBER 19, 2022

A Venture Capital Firm is a firm that invests in startups and early-stage companies. However, not all firms are venture capital firms. One of the most common ways of investing in a startup is by leveraging the expertise of a venture capital firm. Early-Stage Investments vs. Mid-Stage Investments.

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