The Startup Toolkit

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Vision for B2B, sales-driven technology. Vision for B2C, virality-driven community. In an early stage deal, you check the numbers to avoid getting exploited, but you make your decision based on the investors. . $250k now, plus 2 tranches for another $1mm based on performance goals. Highly experienced, top-tier angels.

Term Sheet 20

Term Sheet Dilution Participating Preferred B2C 20

Rob Go

MARCH 16, 2012

Many of the early stage investors that used to do a lot of raw consumer deals are saying “man, consumer is hard! I’m going to focus on B2B” Consumerization of business software is a “hot” meme. It’s not viral. No B2B service has a Draw Something moment.

B2B 46

B2B Seed Stage Viral Early Stage 46

Hippoland

OCTOBER 16, 2016

In this post, I’m going to very *simplistically* dive into some high level categories and talk about how early stage investors consider each. Do you have virality built into the product? These are products that can and should generate revenue right out of the gates in both B2B and consumer ideas. Really really fast.

Startup 48

Startup Vertical Early Stage Bootstrapping 48

Ben's Blog

MAY 15, 2020

Finally, we’ll zoom out and assess the big picture: how various categories of company may be impacted long-term, how this crisis compares to 2008 (and what that means for early-stage founders), and the industries and business models that are now prime for growth. Brian : There’s a couple things about this, though.

Founder 36

Founder Conversion Technical Review Cash Position 36

Duct Tape Marketing

SEPTEMBER 3, 2015

Look at referrals, which is often a company’s best channel early on. Things spread virally when your product is good. But often these early stage referrals come in slowly with no real flow. Starting his career in B2B sales, then moving into marketing, he’s worked all stages of the funnel.

Lead Generation 28

Lead Generation Channel B2B Early Stage 28

Duct Tape Marketing

SEPTEMBER 3, 2015

Look at referrals, which is often a company’s best channel early on. Things spread virally when your product is good. But often these early stage referrals come in slowly with no real flow. Starting his career in B2B sales, then moving into marketing, he’s worked all stages of the funnel.

Lead Generation 28

Lead Generation Channel B2B Early Stage 28

Duct Tape Marketing

SEPTEMBER 3, 2015

Look at referrals, which is often a company’s best channel early on. Things spread virally when your product is good. But often these early stage referrals come in slowly with no real flow. Starting his career in B2B sales, then moving into marketing, he’s worked all stages of the funnel.

Lead Generation 28

Lead Generation Channel B2B Early Stage 28

The Next Web

AUGUST 19, 2013

It just so happened that I became the CEO of a B2B tech startup. Being an engineer, I built myself a kind of algorithm that helps determine an early-­stage startup’s sales channels, and that’s what I’m sharing with you today. Direct sales are common with B2B startups. Well, then you’ve got to go viral.

Belarus 137

Belarus Viral Channel Startup 137

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Many tools designed for B2B marketing in general are also relevant to investors. I previously posted a detailed presentation with sales technology tools useful for B2B sales. Data companies focused on early-stage startups include Aingel , fundsUP , Preseries , PredictLeads , and Sploda.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Rob Go

MARCH 2, 2017

For B2B companies, it’s because incumbents are often quite entrenched and there is resistance against trying new software unless the benefits are jaw droppingly obvious. This is similar to the idea that startups need to be 10X better than incumbents to get traction. The third thing we often talk about is “Distribution Advantage.”

Portfolio 28

Portfolio Distribution Business Model Viral 28

Occam's Razor

MAY 2, 2017

B2B / Enterprise Sales: Salesforce. I absolutely hate how not data driven most B2B selling is. Mobile is massively undervalued by most B2B companies (including SF), hence the acquisition emphasis there. For a B2B company there are so many things we can measure. And, we can do so much for them!

Metrics 141

Metrics Acquisition eCommerce Analytics 141

Hippoland

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

V4: Helping directors of marketing at series B B2B SaaS companies who have previously bought ads in email lists get customers profitably. I know nothing about viral marketing. I.e. it might be difficult to raise money at the early stages, because most investors in the seed space have smaller funds (esp pre-seed funds).

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Business Model B2B Email 48

Hippoland

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

V4: Helping directors of marketing at series B B2B SaaS companies who have previously bought ads in email lists get customers profitably. I know nothing about viral marketing. I.e. it might be difficult to raise money at the early stages, because most investors in the seed space have smaller funds (esp pre-seed funds).

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Business Model B2B Email 48

The Next Web

OCTOBER 17, 2013

Carlos Eduardo Espinal is a partner at Seedcamp , an early stage mentoring and investment program that engages startups through monthly Seedcamp Events, where entrepreneurs present their companies, network, receive mentoring, and compete for investment by Seedcamp. Seedcamp invests in approximately 20 companies annually.

Customer 128

Customer B2C Startup Early Stage 128

Rob Go

JULY 11, 2013

I was asked recently how NextView evaluates such early stage companies for investment. Some products have what look like great viral loops, but aren’t very successful. On the B2B side, Crashlytics (which was acquired by Twitter) went over-the-top in delivering a premium, consumer experience to developers for crash reporting.

Distribution 66

Distribution Vertical Viral B2B 66

mashable.com

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

Here’s an overview: Mitch Kapor: Kapor is founding partner of Kapor Capital , a firm that invests in seed and early stage startups. Brad Feld: Feld is co-founder and managing director of Foundry Group, a Boulder, Colorado venture capital firm that focuses on early stage investments ranging from $250,000 to $500,000.

Angel Investor 80

Angel Investor Startup San Francisco Social Media 80

Cracking the Code

OCTOBER 10, 2008

While the CAC ratio helps SaaS businesses at scale to manage their Sales and Marketing spend, the SLC is a helpful framework for early stage businesses before you have meaningful data. This is a clear example where business-to-business (B2B) marketers need to learn from their business-to-consumer (B2C) counterparts.

Software Review 48

Software Review North America Europe Metrics 48

mashable.com

OCTOBER 5, 2012

Naming can be one of the most difficult challenges in the early stages of a startup. Generally speaking, a name is more valuable to a B2C (marketing-driven) company than a B2B (sales-driven) counterpart, so allocate your efforts accordingly. viral video. viral videos. Social Good. Social Media. social networking.

Naming 84

Naming Startup Social Media RSS 84