Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2022

That approach may work for an entrepreneur who just sold a successful business for a huge profit, but it doesn’t work for the rest of us who are not proven successes yet, or don’t even have a business yet. Non-credible funding request or unreasonable valuation. Future unproven projections don’t set today’s valuation.

Due Diligence 271

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Preferred Stock 271

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 1, 2017

Every business needs to develop a revenue model even before a product. The alternatives range from giving the product away for free (revenue from ads), to pricing based on costs, to charging what the market will bear (premium pricing). Freemium model – people pay for upgrade.

Revenue 166

Revenue Affiliate Advertising Retention 166

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

Fifty years later another Harvard professor, Clayton Christensen, developed his theory of disruptive innovation, which actually described how creative destruction worked. Disruptive innovation leads to the creative destruction of businesses that once seemed pre-eminent and secure. We legalized robbing the corporate treasury.

Private Equity 326

Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 326

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

More and more startups are pursuing Revenue-Based VCs , but “RBI” doesn’t fit everyone. Flexible VC 101: Equity Meets Revenue Share. By tying payments to actual revenues, founders and investors remain aligned around the company’s real-time performance, good or bad. Flexible VC: Revenue -based. Of the Inc.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

VC Cafe

JANUARY 27, 2021

As teams become increasingly distributed, video communication is important for both internal alignment and external business development. But within two weeks its Israeli founders managed to pivot their product into the virtual events world and have concluded 2020 with 100% growth and tens of millions of dollars in revenue.

Vertical 148

Vertical Video Technical Review Europe 148

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2020

That approach may work for an entrepreneur who just sold a successful business for a huge profit, but it doesn’t work for the rest of us who are not proven successes yet, or don’t even have a business yet. Non-credible funding request or unreasonable valuation. Future unproven projections don’t set today’s valuation.

Due Diligence 308

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Preferred Stock Seed Stage 308

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 7, 2022

Angel investors will perk up if you have a prototype or a few real customers, while venture capitalists will likely choose to wait until you have achieved several million in revenue or customer count. Be prepared to explain your business model. How much do you really need for the next 12 to 18 months?

Preferred Stock 304

Preferred Stock Exit Strategy Equity Angel Investor 304

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

Proposed private equity deal: Eventually, this business will require private equity to provide sufficient funding to develop some of the more robust aspects of the technology that will attract Fortune 500 clients. That is to say, they’d want to be able to control costs and revenues at a high level.

Private Equity 94

Private Equity Pre-Money Valuation Equity Startup 94

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2015

If you consider yourself a technologist, you probably believe and may be propagating one of the following myths: The first priority for funding should be to develop the technology. Outside investors are most interested in scaling a proven business model, not research and development.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Intellectual Property Cofounder Bootstrapping 120

Version One Ventures

OCTOBER 15, 2020

In this post, I’ll provide an overview of these recent developments as well as a sense of the grand vision I see forming for Lightning around payments and Web3 applications. In contrast to DeFi’s “move fast and break things” attitude, Lightning development has been intentionally slower and more methodical. 1) Generalizable Payments .

Networking 168

Networking Global OTC Security 168

Cracking the Code

OCTOBER 1, 2020

Snyk was founded with the mission to help developers make their code secure, providing a platform to automatically assess and remediate open source vulnerabilities. The company’s success has been largely driven by its developer-led freemium model, going from Series A funding to a valuation of $2.6B in just 30 months.

Early Stage 62

Early Stage Open Source Development Team Review Security 62

The Startup Magazine

APRIL 24, 2020

Whether you’re interested in selling a website you built from scratch, or want to sell your Amazon-based B2C brand, there are many different baseline factors that go into determining an appropriate website valuation number. While it’s true that valuations can get quite technical, the basics are relatively easy to understand.

eCommerce 120

eCommerce Valuation B2C Revenue 120

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

Ah, but today’s Internet companies have real revenue! In addition to FOMO it is partly driven by massive increase in valuations for earlier-stage companies who raised money at bit seed prices but who still have product risk. And for some that means that despite waiting they may see worse valuations in the future than now.

Saudi Arabia 309

Saudi Arabia Valuation IPO Technical Review 309

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 4, 2020

Angel investors will perk up if you have a prototype or a few real customers, while venture capitalists will likely choose to wait until you have achieved several million in revenue or customer count. Be prepared to explain your business model. How much do you really need for the next 12 to 18 months?

Startup 337

Startup Preferred Stock Exit Strategy Equity 337

Up and Running

OCTOBER 16, 2019

You don’t need to write a 200-page document, but you will need something to hand to your banker or investor that shows that there’s a market for the problem your business solves and includes your key financial statements and forecasts. . Your business plan is a great place to map how your sales and revenue goals fit with your expense budget.

Business Plan 108

Business Plan Small Business Forecast Balance Sheet 108

Up and Running

OCTOBER 16, 2019

You don’t need to write a 200-page document, but you will need something to hand to your banker or investor that shows that there’s a market for the problem your business solves and includes your key financial statements and forecasts. . Your business plan is a great place to map how your sales and revenue goals fit with your expense budget.

Business Plan 108

Business Plan Small Business Forecast Balance Sheet 108

ReadWriteStart

JULY 17, 2023

In the financial year ending in March this year, the startup generated a revenue of $18.5 Furlenco’s innovative business model has disrupted the traditional furniture industry in India. On the other hand, Sheela Foam will benefit from Furlenco’s innovative business model and expertise in the furniture rental space.

India 104

India Acquisition Merger Curation 104

thebarefootvc

JANUARY 27, 2014

Do I think we are in a valuation bubble? I think that later stage valuations are frothy (for reasons I explain below) while earlier stage valuations are starting to stabilize from previous highs (with the exception of the superstar serial entrepreneur) - turns out scaling in a sea of competition (both startup and entrenched) is not so easy.

Technical Review 63

Technical Review Valuation Venture Capital Investment Bankers 63

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

Five Quarters of Profitability During the 1980’s and through the mid 1990’s startups going public had to do something that most companies today never heard of – they had to show a track record of increasing revenue and consistent profitability. There was now a public market for companies with no revenue, no profit and big claims.

Silicon Valley 223

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 223

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, September 22, 2008 The three drivers of growth for your business model. The AARRR model (hence pirates, get it?) He also has a discussion of how your choice of business model determines which of these metric areas you want to focus on. Choose one.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco CPA SEM CTO Hire 167

Up and Running

MAY 17, 2017

The sad reality is that many business acquisitions do not work out as hoped. Either the person selling their business gets significantly less than they planned, or they are not able to find a buyer at all. Buyers want some assurance that your business will be profitable in the future. Most business acquisitions focus on money.

Acquisition 92

Acquisition Technical Review Revenue Exit Strategy 92

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 13, 2019

At this point, we had already developed the first phase of the platform by bootstrapping. We got back on our feet and successfully pivoted the business. Our strategic investor had a major impact on the way we shaped our business model, and we owe a lot of our success to his advice. We were able to raise $750k this way.

Strategic Investors 49

Strategic Investors Austin Angel Investor Bootstrapping 49

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 6, 2014

Instead of the old “throw-money-at-a-good-idea” approach, I based our strategy on the belief that the best startups are the ones that can become revenue-positive shortly after takeoff with as little upfront investment as possible. Digital marketing is my expertise, and is the common thread throughout all our investments.

San Francisco 154

San Francisco Business Model Silicon Valley Coder 154

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

especially if the startup already has a product and revenue? Pre-seed tends to be about developing an MVP and generating early traction. Lower valuations and follow on valuation sensitivity – fundraising is a recurring event in the life of a startup. A founder asked me what makes a $2M round “pre-seed”?

Valuation 186

Valuation Software Review Generative AI Technical Review 186

crowdSPRING Blog

NOVEMBER 30, 2012

Start With a Business Model, Not a Business Plan | WSJ – [link]. The danger of waiting to long to find a business model? … Checking In on Foursquare’s Valuation – [link]. Red All Over: Newspaper Revenues Fall In Q3 – [link]. Just got acquired? – [link].

Social Media 100

Social Media Small Business Central African Republic Design 100

ReadWriteStart

MARCH 24, 2011

Socioclean already has about 25,000 users, and has good interest from a dozen colleges and universities who want to offer white label solutions through their career development offices. Being a domain expert in the biomedical field, and not having much experience in marketing and sales, Satish is hitting the wall on business development.

Illinois 114

Illinois Entrepreneur Silicon Valley Chicago 114

Steve Blank

MARCH 18, 2011

The signals are loud and clear : seed and late stage valuations are getting frothy and wacky, and hiring talent in Silicon Valley is the toughest it has been since the dot.com bubble. VC’s worked with entrepreneurs to build profitable and scalable businesses, with increasing revenue and consistent profitability – quarter after quarter.

Internet 334

Internet IPO Silicon Valley Agile 334

crowdSPRING Blog

APRIL 8, 2012

Entrepreneurs, by definition, take an idea or a concept and strive to make that idea into a operating business. To do this, we spend a great deal of time laying the groundwork: researching, modeling, testing, and (finally) executing to turn all of that work into a revenue-generating enterprise.

Software Review 112

Software Review Entrepreneur Incubator Valuation 112

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 10, 2010

They already have several customers including some telcos, and are at about $350,000 in revenues. And EVEN if you ARE an experienced entrepreneur, all but just a few VCs still want to see customer validation, business model validation and traction, before they will invest. Because customer financing equals revenue, not equity.

Cloud 115

Cloud Silicon Valley Incubator Finance 115

Duct Tape Marketing

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

You're selling your culture, you're selling your client list, you're selling your business model, but that's it, you have no tangible also, you know, agencies, don't typically service clients in a localized market. Are they all SMBs small businesses or do you have enterprise really big clients? Do you have a leadership team?

Entrepreneur 79

Entrepreneur Technical Review Cofounder Valuation 79

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 16, 2021

Many of the creator economy startups have conjured different ways for creators to generate revenue outside of advertising, which has been the bread and butter of ‘influencer’ platforms like Instagram, Youtube, TikTok etc. “The Creator economy is in crisis, now lets fix it”, Li Jin’s newsletter.

Startup 207

Startup Social Media Venture Capital Audio 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. Traction and revenue? Business model?

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

Austin Startup

AUGUST 20, 2017

Keep the valuations consistent with company progress. The bottom line is that the pedigree of your investors will have much to do with your ultimate valuation and with your enjoyment of the startup experience. Do they perceive enough value to pay prices that create for you a profit margin that matches your business model?

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Software Review Cap Table Securities and Exchange Commission 48

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2016

That approach may work for an entrepreneur who just sold a successful business for a huge profit, but it doesn’t work for the rest of us who are not proven successes yet, or don’t even have a business yet. Non-credible funding request or unreasonable valuation. Future unproven projections don’t set today’s valuation.

Due Diligence 120

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Preferred Stock Seed Stage 120

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 27, 2011

And, oh by the way, we also really like the idea of the 1M/1M entrepreneurs building valuation and negotiating leverage through these business development efforts, instead of signing off large chunks of their company in form of equity early on. The business is already profitable with $2.9 million in revenue.

Dilution 114

Dilution Revenue Finance Entrepreneur 114

Tim Keane

MARCH 9, 2011

If, on the other hand, there is some near term prospect of cash flow (say within six months or a year) but no ability to repay in the meantime, then the entrepreneur may try and find a way to finance his “pre-revenue period” using friends and family money that accepts a somewhat lower payment in recognition of a relationship beyond just investing.

Finance 83

Finance Bootstrapping Startup Equity 83

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Chasing funding versus chasing customers and a repeatable and scalable business model, is one reason startups fail. Chasing funding versus chasing customers and a repeatable and scalable business model, is one reason startups fail. Is there a profitable business model? How many are there? Can it scale?”

Customer Development 264

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 264