Feld Thoughts

JULY 19, 2018

I remember when, in a period of about six months, the ceiling on seed financings vanished. Suddenly every company was raising a seed financing of at least $5m, regardless of the experience of the team. By 2002 investments at the seed level had evaporated (there were almost no seed financings happening).

Early Stage 105

Early Stage Seed Stage Valuation Finance 105

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 29, 2010

I learned everything I know about startups in these lean years: 2001-2004. If you’re business has complicated accounting (like many ad network businesses) and if you’re raised enough money to warrant it – a great VP Finance is worth his/her weight in gold. Even better if he/she can double as a VP Operations & HR.

Warrant 333

Warrant Germany France Cost 333

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

In 2004 / 2005 I was starting to get intrigued with user-generated content. “My initial desire to blog came from something that’s always been my approach to investing – I’m a nerd and I love to play with the technology and part of my approach has really been to understand things both at a user level and at a reasonably deep tentacle level.

Technical Review 288

Technical Review Venture Capital Silicon Valley Software Review 288

VC Adventure

SEPTEMBER 20, 2019

That blog post – which turned into one of my most read posts ever – grew out of a study done by Correlation Ventures showing the distribution of outcomes across over 21,000 financings during the years 2004-2013 as well as some of my own observations. And only about 4% produce a return of greater than 10x. Pretty humbling.

Marketing 91

Marketing Venture Capital Finance Distribution 91

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 9, 2022

Even after the worst period for VC in history—VC funds were back to market in 2004, no more than four years after the crash, right in line with the historical pace to get back at the game of investing. It was super hard to get any kind of financing before, and it will remain so. The incentive is too strong. You should be all good.

Stock 97

Stock Marketing Valuation Later Stage 97

Agile VC

MARCH 13, 2012

While it was still a college-focused SNS, Facebook of course launched in 2004 and there were plenty of other examples of social networking already… Friendster (2002), LinkedIn (2003), MySpace (2003), Orkut (2004). It was filed in 2005 and issued in 2010 which means there was a good deal of prior art around SNS before Yahoo filed.

IP 100

IP IPO Social Network Silicon Valley 100

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 3, 2010

Through them, entrepreneurs can hook up with R&D resources in universities and companies, and get access to a robust support network that provides opportunities for visibility, growth and financing. The JEI program was created in 2004 and is managed by the Ministry of Research. Next page: The Jeunes Pousses. The Startups.

France 163

France Technical Review Incubator Early Stage 163

Duct Tape Marketing

MAY 4, 2022

And that was, you know, 2004, 2005 was, I was realizing that it was no longer about working harder. So, you know, Brian did not need someone to run finance in it cuz he liked finance in it. Whereas I have members of the COO Alliance that two of their core areas that they run are finance in it.

CTO 80

CTO Cofounder Networking Operations 80

Agile VC

APRIL 30, 2019

Google was a one such company when they went public in 2004 and Facebook was too at their 2012 IPO. In finance there’s a concept called an embedded option… in short, beyond the baseline value of a bond or other security you also ascribe an additional bucket of value to something triggered by future events.

IPO 100

IPO B2B B2C Institutional Investors 100

Feld Thoughts

FEBRUARY 4, 2013

We led a $7m financing in the leader in digital dog boarding that connects dog owners with approved, reviewed, and insured sitters. Seth and I worked together on ServiceMagic in the 1999 – 2004 time frame (IAC acquired it in 2004 for $180m) so we had a deep understanding of how a heavily metric-based buy/sell marketplace worked.

Seattle 136

Seattle New York Metrics Demand 136

reidhoffman.org

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

What I’ve honorably been able to do, however, is share the deck I used to pitch LinkedIn to Greylock for a Series B investment back in 2004. the consumer internet landscape in 2004 vs. today. In 2004, the consumer internet was just beginning to rebound. Second, understand the broader financing climate. Reid Hoffman.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Viral Revenue Networking 111

Feld Thoughts

JULY 21, 2014

When I started blogging in 2004, it was all about transparency. And if you want to really understand transparency, look at Rand Fishkin’s epic post on Moz’s $18 Million Venture Financing in 2012. Authenticity has once again become a trendy word. Fred Wilson led the way and I happily followed. Now that’s transparency.

Vesting 148

Vesting Matching Restful Finance 148

The Equity Kicker

APRIL 8, 2015

The fact that the trend has been going for some time – Google was founded in 1998 and Tesla and Facebook in 2003 and 2004 respectively – suggests that the bubble explanation can’t be the whole story. That said, I think that froth in the late stage financing market has contributed in the last couple of years.

Valuation 60

Valuation Finance Developer Startup 60

Scalable Startup

AUGUST 26, 2014

Red Hat was one of the first of these types of companies bridging open source with big finance, leveraging Linux support into a profitable business, also leveraging the enterprise. It gained recognition during the 2004 presidential campaign when Howard Dean’s IT director decided to use it as a platform for community and campaigning.

Founder 42

Founder Los Angeles PHP Open Source 42

Gust

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Entrepreneurs and investors who have spent any time dealing with convertible debt seed financing transactions are likely to have encountered the subject of valuation caps. The cap is irrelevant if the next equity financing is at a valuation below the cap amount.) Part of the deal was bringing in a new CEO, Richard Rosenblatt.

Valuation 98

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Merger Vesting 98

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 24, 2014

When Google went public in August of 2004 one of the first things I did with my employee grants was sell enough to pay off my student loans. It’s for reasons like these that I support getting startup founders some liquidity during their company’s first few years, perhaps as early as Series A financing when appropriate.

Founder 108

Founder San Francisco Liquidity Event LP 108

View from Seed

JANUARY 26, 2016

There are a number of factors that have contributed to the rise of pre-seed rounds, but the strongest have been the frothy late-stage financing market, coupled with both the scaling-up of some of the early winners in the institutional seed ecosystem and the scaling-down of some larger funds that retrenched after the financial crisis.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Early Stage Cofounder Finance 120

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 24, 2019

TorFX was founded in 2004. World First began in 2004 with its founders’ desire to give customers an alternative to big banks when it comes to money transfers. There are no transfer fees for sending 10,000 AUD to the UK. Also, the transfer time is just one to two days. GBP on their end.

Somalia 85

Somalia Startup Australia Global 85

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 1, 2018

Some real-life examples of this include: Martha Stewart, whose company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, suffered and never fully recovered after she was found guilty in 2004 of charges related to insider trading. Your finances and brand reputation may soar one year, struggle the next, and then make strides again after that.

Social Media 114

Social Media Syndicate Syndication SEO 114

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 15, 2012

He spotted Facebook in 2004 and Spotify in 2009. or would he have been convinced to take a financing round? Companies going for the long ball aren't discovered--they're juiced up to go for the homerun, with financing. Parker made a huge dent in the web as co-founder of Napster, then built Plaxo up to 20 million users.

New York City 111

New York City New York Cofounder Venture Capital 111

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 5, 2019

These results were obtained after the following rounds of financing of more than 1000 technology companies in the United States. Only 46% of these companies were able to raise enough for the second round of financing. Where you can turn when you need financing quickly. No money to continue investing.

Venture Capital 77

Venture Capital Cofounder Finance United States 77

Feld Thoughts

FEBRUARY 3, 2016

So if you are impatient, I encourage you to go look at posts from me, Fred Wilson , and David Hornik from 2004 – 2007 for a taste of what I would characterize of “the re-emergence from winter.” But remember, all of this has happened before, and all of it will happen again. ” The post Is History A Guide In Business?

Finance 70

Finance Community Founder Conversion 70

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 23, 2013

Just think about where Nokia might be today if 100 of their best ideas and patents had been spun off as separate companies back in 2004, with Nokia owning 20% of each startup. The entrepreneurs would’ve been free to seek outside financing and if their ideas had taken flight, they’d have stood to make a killing.

Finland 150

Finland Bankruptcy Cofounder Leadership 150

500hats.com

AUGUST 2, 2012

One of the earliest and most well-known of the Micro-VC funds was First Round Capital , founded in 2004 by Josh Kopelman , a former entrepreneur who sold Half.com to eBay in 2000. Many of these now-trendy Micro-VC funds began as individual angel investors who gradually grew up and started small funds (myself included).

Silicon Valley 74

Silicon Valley Early Stage Venture Capital Valuation 74

Feld Thoughts

APRIL 3, 2011

This has been going on for at least a quarter or two, but the velocity of it seems to have picked up with a wave of high priced financings along with large financings for nascent companies. A variety of people were using it to describe the current situation.

Entrepreneur 143

Entrepreneur Finance Internet Web 143

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

He’s personally led more than 50 financing rounds. Based in Palo Alto and founded in 2004 by PayPal alumni. Offers two products: Palantir Government and Palantir Finance. But the most interesting is that all of his stories involved entrepreneurship. It’s part of what makes him so likable. Total raised: $22mm.

San Francisco 248

San Francisco Venture Capital Analytics Government 248

Board Effect

SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

The term ESG was first popularized by the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation when they published a report called Who Cares Wins in 2004. Shortly after, activist investors followed suit and used the same strategy to advance other important causes.

South Africa 76

South Africa Government Africa Institutional Investors 76

Reid Hoffman

OCTOBER 15, 2013

Entrepreneurs often ask me for help with their financing decks. What I’ve honorably been able to do, however, is share the deck I used to pitch LinkedIn to Greylock for a Series B investment back in 2004. the consumer internet landscape in 2004 vs. today. MYTH : The startup financing process is about one thing — money.

Finance 78

Finance Cofounder Early Stage Networking 78

Genuine VC

MARCH 8, 2012

When I first started in the VC business in 2004, I usually shared some reactions with entrepreneurs whenever we passed on pursuing an investment, but I admittedly erred towards communicating generic thoughts that were fairly non-specific but perhaps mildly helpful.

Venture Capital 167

Venture Capital Portfolio Conversion Partner 167

Ben's Blog

JULY 16, 2013

3/31/2004: 31.6. So, the average company on the S&P 500 IT index with $10M in annual earnings would be worth $210M in March of 1995, $820M in March of 2002, $310M in March of 2004 and $155M in March of last year. Financing capital market down round fundraising outkast' One would be wrong: 3/31/1995: 21.0. 3/29/1996: 22.3.

Down Round 78

Down Round Marketing Preferred Stock Post-Money Valuation 78

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2010

This lasted from about 2001-2004. Venture Financings we Discussed. When he entered the industry he caught the tail end of the dot com bubble and then was immediately thrust into a 3-year period of “triage&# where VC’s had to deal with problems in portfolio companies. I shall be looking to replicate this in Los Angeles.

San Francisco 230

San Francisco Los Angeles Cofounder SMS 230

Start Up Blog

MAY 13, 2019

So get ready for some finance meets tech nerdocity below. Google IPO 2004 – 5 years after it was founded. The Valuation: Uber was priced at $45 USD per share giving it a valuation of around $82 billion USD. This means Uber is a more valuable company than Ford and GM combined. Uber IPO 2019 – 10 years after it was founded.

IPO 48

IPO Valuation Stock Cost 48

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 24, 2017

I own several finance related companies. I started Penn Financial Group, a registered investment advisor, in 2004 to help the underserved demographic of investors find the high-end investment advice the large firms were not offering. Please tell us what you do Matthew and why you got started. .

Early Stage 69

Early Stage SEC Chicago Venture Capital 69

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 10, 2010

Venture Financing. Founded by Matt Rutledge in 2004 and based in Dallas. Michael also discussed the problems of being public including our litigious society in the US and the time that CFO’s and executive teams need to spend on both shareholders and legal issues (for a CFO it can be up to 1/3 or half their time). TechCrunch.

IPO 242

IPO Venture Capital Private Placement Cofounder 242

Genuine VC

MARCH 8, 2012

When I first started in the VC business in 2004, I usually shared some reactions with entrepreneurs whenever we passed on pursuing an investment, but I admittedly erred towards communicating generic thoughts that were fairly non-specific but perhaps mildly helpful.

Venture Capital 103

Venture Capital Portfolio Conversion Partner 103

Austin Startup

MAY 11, 2011

Back in 2006 and early 2007 Austin had seen a positive upswing in investment, consumer spending, and a generally healthy economy since about 2004. Please join me in wishing and hoping that unforeseen circumstances don’t disrupt a hallmark in the chapter of Austin history.

Austin 83

Austin Community Sales Technology 83

Campus Entrepreneurship

OCTOBER 19, 2010

Bra guy” is a relatively new gig for Ohly, dating back to about 2004, when his MBA classmate and now Zyrra co-founder Christi Andersen mentioned that there was a pervasive problem with bra fit. The company is about to close a $500,000 – $700,000 round of angel financing.

Software 37

Software Angel Financing Cofounder Finance 37