View from Seed

AUGUST 12, 2015

I loved the founder but was struggling because this just didn’t seem “big enough” to me. The game plan is then to show accelerating user growth across a variety of user segments and understandable/declining acquisition costs. The post The Market Size Fallacy for Seed-Stage Startups appeared first on The View From Seed.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Marketing Angel Investor Term Sheet 120

View from Seed

AUGUST 3, 2021

As seed stage investors here at NextView Ventures , we have the privilege of working with a wide profile of founders at the company conception stage — from early-career first time entrepreneurs , to seasoned execs turned founders , to repeat successful entrepreneurs.

Cofounder 156

Cofounder Seed Stage Portfolio Revenue 156

View from Seed

AUGUST 3, 2021

As seed stage investors here at NextView Ventures , we have the privilege of working with a wide profile of founders at the company conception stage — from early-career first time entrepreneurs , to seasoned execs turned founders , to repeat successful entrepreneurs.

Cofounder 156

Cofounder Seed Stage Revenue Acquisition 156

View from Seed

AUGUST 3, 2021

As seed stage investors here at NextView Ventures , we have the privilege of working with a wide profile of founders at the company conception stage — from early-career first time entrepreneurs , to seasoned execs turned founders , to repeat successful entrepreneurs.

Cofounder 136

Cofounder Seed Stage Portfolio Revenue 136

Agile VC

APRIL 17, 2011

Kayak was started here in my backyard of Boston… co-founder & CTO Paul English and the product/engineering team is based here in Concord MA. Co-founder & CEO Steve Hafner and the business team are based in Norwalk, CT. This was the large round to fund the acquisition of Sidestep. Series A Preferred.

Pre-Money Valuation 113

Pre-Money Valuation Liquidation Preference Dividend Common Stock 113

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 11, 2019

*This post is part of our “pitch deck” series where we dissect the seed stage pitch deck and discuss the ideal flow for a pitch. Now it’s time to set the stage with the early traction you have. Seed stage VCs are realistic about how much traction a very raw company might have.

Seed Stage 149

Seed Stage B2B Seed Capital Revenue 149

Rob Go

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

Most of these rhyme with what we’ve said in the past, but some have also evolved to fit the changing landscape and our own convictions about what really matters for founders and their investors at the seed stage. Of the last 15 investments we’ve made, we’ve been the lead or co-lead investor over 80% of the time. .

North America 36

North America Seed Stage Early Stage Lead Investor 36

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

Many assume it was a cakewalk, based on the success LinkedIn has enjoyed over time and the current stature of our founder/CEO Reid Hoffman (now Chairman). Yes… he was a very successful PayPal exec and previously co-founder & VP Product of SocialNet. But keep in mind at this point Reid’s a first-time CEO.

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

View from Seed

MARCH 19, 2015

Founders laud their own “end-to-end” thinking. He’s dubbed the approach “ pretotyping ,” and it shares many of the same principles as both its similar-sounding (if later-stage) cousin, prototyping, as well as the more well-known lean startup movement. Why doesn’t everyone do this?”

Product 120

Product Technical Review Marketing Lean 120

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2010

Almost every deal I’ve ever funded I’ve gotten to know the founders over time. Mostly by early stage investors talking about getting smaller exits. But whether you’re talking with micro VCs, seed stage investors or series A,B investors they all want to believe that your company CAN be big one day.

Early Stage 360

Early Stage Startup Venture Capital Seed Stage 360

Hunter Walker

MAY 19, 2014

Anecdotally, over the last 3-6 months we’re definitely seeing more examples of larger early stage or multistage funds offer to do 80-100% of a company’s seed round. And it hasn’t been a special situation such as the founder as an EIR at said fund, or having been previously backed by that fund at earlier company.

Seed Stage 100

Seed Stage Syndicate Syndication Founder 100

Agile VC

JUNE 5, 2011

Even for those who don’t care to dive into the numbers, it’s worth a quick glance because co-founder/CEO Andrew Mason wrote a letter which forms the preamble of the full document. Groupon’s 2010 net loss includes $203M expenses related to acquisitions of several deal businesses. . Author howerl.

North America 100

North America Chicago Boston Silicon Valley 100

View from Seed

AUGUST 2, 2017

For this reason, we’re excited to announce that we have closed on NextView’s $50M third fund, with a mission to champion founders who are redesigning the Everyday Economy. . In apparel, companies like Dia&Co and ThredUp haven’t just made shopping easier, they’ve changed access to apparel and what people actually wear each day.

Seed Stage 273

Seed Stage Portfolio Cofounder B2B 273

View from Seed

AUGUST 3, 2015

” The podcast, in part, is built to ask that question of founders, who then tell those stories openly and honestly. In this episode, we talk to the CEO of the newest unicorn — Jason Robins , co-founder of DraftKings. Marketing and user acquisition advice for those in hot, competitive markets.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Cofounder Startup Acquisition 120

View from Seed

AUGUST 3, 2015

” The podcast, in part, is built to ask that question of founders, who then tell those stories openly and honestly. In this episode, we talk to the CEO of the newest unicorn — Jason Robins , co-founder of DraftKings. Marketing and user acquisition advice for those in hot, competitive markets.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Cofounder Acquisition Analytics 120

Agile VC

MAY 21, 2012

On the consumer facing side, the number of companies doing multiple acquisitions of $100M+ was extremely short… Google, eBay/PayPal, Amazon, and Microsoft are at the top of the list. <$100M) acquisitions for several years now, but they’ve mainly been acquihires. IAC and Yahoo! Author howerl. Filed under Uncategorized.

Acquisition 162

Acquisition Silicon Valley B2B Seed Stage 162

Seeing Both Sides

SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

This post was co-authored with Omri Stern and originally appeared in Harvard Business Review. Are Israeli companies on the verge of developing a repeatable playbook to scale their companies and become market leaders, not just acquisition fodder for the Silicon Valley giants? The founders have started companies before.

Cofounder 20

Cofounder Technical Review United States 20

View from Seed

APRIL 23, 2015

” Founders must address distribution in their pitches both overtly and succinctly. Additionally, if you’re talking to VCs, it’s implied that you’re thinking big and thinking about a large acquisition or IPO, as well as generating hundreds of millions in revenue. Accidental VC'

Founder 120

Founder Distribution Viral Seed Stage 120

Agile VC

JANUARY 21, 2015

Note: This post also published at NextView’s blog for seed stage companies The View From Seed. A population of founders, employees, investors, advisors, and others all aligned in trying to build large disruptive businesses is naturally prone to lofty, even over-the-top language. How can we put things into context?

Cofounder 188

Cofounder Seed Stage Employee PR 188

View from Seed

MARCH 16, 2016

Put all that together, and consider that this is a company that thinks in decades or even centuries, and we’re bound to see both more jobs and more acquisitions. This is true when it comes to early-stage funding, but also as it relates to support platforms being built by local firms to help Boston-based startups.

Boston 215

Boston Early Stage Artificial Inteligence Semantic 215

Scott Edward Walker

JUNE 26, 2012

16) GEORGE ZACHARY, Partner at Charles River Ventures “I look for founders at the seed stage and Series A stage who basically can quickly explain to me what it is that they are doing, why it is so important, and in a way that the passion comes from them authentically, not like somebody taught them how to make a presentation.” - George Zachary (p.27)

Term Sheet 72

Term Sheet Technical Review Due Diligence Cofounder 72

View from Seed

JANUARY 11, 2017

Google Ventures was one of our co-investors, and in addition to all the other typical support GV provides their portfolio, this startup gained some unique insights for their organic and paid search strategy which were impactful and couldn’t have been gleaned elsewhere. .

Strategic Investors 120

Strategic Investors Post-Money Valuation Seed Stage Cofounder 120

View from Seed

JULY 9, 2015

It’s a common question that every VC fields from founders — and founders field from other founders, and marketers field from founders, and PR people field from founders. So, when should they — or any seed-stage startup — think about drumming up some PR and making noise around funding?

Startup 120

Startup PR Cofounder Stealth 120

Hunter Walker

MARCH 8, 2014

There aren’t yet four layers of management between you and the founders. The Early Team Still There and They’ll Be Your Tribe for Years : The founders and early team are still in place because there hasn’t been a liquidity event and the work is still exciting for them.

Liquidity Event 134

Liquidity Event Early Stage Seed Stage Startup 134

Hippoland

JULY 19, 2016

Investors want to see things progressing, so you can’t let customer acquisition slip. However, for seed stage companies that have small teams, this is incredibly difficult. If it’s just you and your co-founder in your startup, 50% of your team has dropped out of the business entirely during this time period.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Cofounder Acquisition Early Stage 48

Agile VC

JUNE 25, 2012

The company has been in stealth mode for the last couple months but I wanted to take this opportunity to talk about NextView’s investment in the company and our enthusiasm to be working with co-founders Dan Foody and Alex Cote. I first met co-founder/CEO Dan Foody a little over six months ago. Read More ».

Cofounder 140

Cofounder Stealth Silicon Valley Mobile 140

Agile VC

JANUARY 21, 2015

Note: This post also published at NextView’s blog for seed stage companies The View From Seed. A population of founders, employees, investors, advisors, and others all aligned in trying to build large disruptive businesses is naturally prone to lofty, even over-the-top language. How can we put things into context?

Cofounder 100

Cofounder Seed Stage Employee PR 100

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 1, 2015

For a pursuit that largely revolves around silent time spent at a computer by one person then, slowly at first, a few more people, a bit more talking, and on and on until failure, acquisition, or IPO, it may seem inconsequential to consider where it all goes down. As a founder on Day One, you are at zero.

New York City 120

New York City New York Entrepreneur Seed Stage 120

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 1, 2015

For a pursuit that largely revolves around silent time spent at a computer by one person then, slowly at first, a few more people, a bit more talking, and on and on until failure, acquisition, or IPO, it may seem inconsequential to consider where it all goes down. As a founder on Day One, you are at zero.

New York City 120

New York City New York Entrepreneur Seed Stage 120

Hippoland

JUNE 26, 2016

Check out my side project Hustleathon , which helps founders get over their fear of rejection. I’m a seed investor – what would I expect? What customer acquisition channels did you test? If you’re a post-seed company, I also want to see your data over time. Just the founders is sufficient. Cross-promotions?

Email 91

Email Seed Stage Cofounder Demand 91

Agile VC

MAY 16, 2012

At NextView we’ve intentionally taken an approach which combines both thematic and opportunistic investing for a couple reasons: 1) Our Overall Strategy is Highly Focused - We’re a dedicated seed VC fund, so we invest in startups exclusively at the seed stage. Pingback: watch toy story 3 free online. Read More ».

Seed Stage 124

Seed Stage Silicon Valley B2B Syndicate 124

Gust

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Valuation caps can come into play in settings other than seed-stage convertible note financing rounds. with Intermix owning 53%, MySpace Ventures (an entity owned by the six founders) holding 19.9%, Redpoint taking 25%, and the remainder going to employee stock options. (At Read on for a fuller explanation. by February 2006).

Valuation 98

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Merger Vesting 98

www.paulgraham.com

AUGUST 1, 2008

In the last batch of startups we funded, we had several founders who said theyd thought of applying before, but werent sure and got jobs instead. This is a problem for founders, because it makes raising money take longer and cost more in legal fees. One problem theyve solved is how to think about acquisitions.

Web 54

Web Startup Silicon Valley Technical Review 54

pandodaily.com

NOVEMBER 29, 2012

“I wouldn’t expect anyone except seed investors to complain about it,” Graham says. “Founders don’t think their problems are due to trends. And in fact, overall trends are a second-order effect for founders.” Sarah Lacy is the founder and editor-in-chief of PandoDaily. Sarah Lacy.

Technical Review 93

Technical Review Silicon Valley Incubator Syria 93

Hippoland

AUGUST 16, 2018

Many of these investors mean “series A” or “post seed” when they say “early stage” even though they will do a handful of pre-seed deals in founders they already know / successful serial entrepreneurs we’ve all heard of. Most VCs need their winners to return 100x (or ideally more).

Sales Cycle 54

Sales Cycle Differentiation Early Stage Bootstrapping 54

Hippoland

AUGUST 16, 2018

Many of these investors mean “series A” or “post seed” when they say “early stage” even though they will do a handful of pre-seed deals in founders they already know / successful serial entrepreneurs we’ve all heard of. Most VCs need their winners to return 100x (or ideally more).

Sales Cycle 48

Sales Cycle Differentiation Early Stage Bootstrapping 48

www.paulgraham.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

And since a startup thatsucceeds ordinarily makes its founders rich, that implies gettingrich is doable too. A lot ofwould-be startup founders think the key to the whole process is theinitial idea, and from that point all you have to do is execute.Venture capitalists know better. Ideally you want between two and four founders.

Startup 105

Startup Cofounder Software Stock 105