Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2019

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Set expectations accordingly. Solicit funds from friends and family.

Intellectual Property 219

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 219

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 1, 2023

As an early-stage company that just closed our seed round at $8.1 So what does an early-stage company do to avoid the doom and gloom plaguing the world of startups? And they probably never will be unless business model viability is reassessed across the board. That includes us. they still aren’t profitable.

Early Stage 112

Early Stage Los Angeles Silicon Valley Cofounder 112

Version One Ventures

DECEMBER 28, 2023

To recap the year, here are some of 2023’s biggest themes for Version One: 1) Building in AI While still early in the AI wave, we’re seeing not only technological innovation but also business model transformation. It’s still in the very early stages there, but there is definitely an enthusiastic community to build on.

Technical Review 73

Technical Review India Canada Early Stage 73

The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 15, 2020

Dan Lok explains what venture capital funding is and how to secure it for your business. It is a type of financing that investors can provide to startups and small businesses which are believed to have the potential for success in the long term. Your pitch deck provides an overview of your entire business.

Venture Capital 144

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Security 144

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 4, 2019

Most early stage startups tend to do well in this area because entrepreneurs generally launch their startups believing they have a great product idea. What does this mean for their early stage investors? Weak revenue architecture poses the greatest near-term risk of failure for most early stage startups.

Framework 118

Framework Architecture Cleveland Early Stage 118

VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 2, 2019

One question that keeps coming up when speaking with early stage entrepreneurs when it comes to funding, is what metrics the company needs to hit to raise seed/series A/B etc: What’s a good conversion rate? Benchmarks are typically specific to stage/business model/geo. What should our MRR growth be?

B2C 141

B2C Technical Review Startup Retention 141

YoungUpstarts

MAY 24, 2019

Most early stage startups tend to do well in this area because entrepreneurs generally launch their startups believing they have a great product idea. What does this mean for their early stage investors? Weak revenue architecture poses the greatest near-term risk of failure for most early stage startups.

Framework 104

Framework Architecture Cleveland Early Stage 104

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2014

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Set expectations accordingly. Solicit funds from friends and family.

Entrepreneur 283

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 283

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2017

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Set expectations accordingly. Solicit funds from friends and family.

Product Development 177

Product Development Cost Developer Product 177

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Set expectations accordingly. Solicit funds from friends and family.

Intellectual Property 309

Intellectual Property Technical Review Venture Capital Startup 309

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2018

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Only one-third make it past their tenth anniversary. Solicit funds from friends and family.

Intellectual Property 134

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 134

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

In very few specific cases, depending on the nature of the business, the business model might demand a considerable gestation period or extensive research and development. For these businesses, it is imperative to get funding from the start without which the company cannot be set up. Stages of Equity-based funding. ?

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 1, 2011

Unlike small business entrepreneurs, their interest is not in earning a living but rather in creating equity in a company that eventually will become publicly traded or acquired, generating a multi-million-dollar payoff. Their job is to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. They hire the best and the brightest.

Government 335

Government Silicon Valley Startup Venture Capital 335

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

Does the traditional VC financing model make sense for all companies? I’ve been a traditional equity VC for 8 years, and I’m now researching new business models in venture capital. However, only recently have early-stage companies started to use this model at any scale. . Absolutely not.

Revenue 60

Revenue Term Sheet Founder Technical Review 60

View from Seed

APRIL 20, 2020

As we have discussed elsewhere, the world of early stage investing is shifting from FOMO ( F ear O f M issing O ut) to FOLD (Fear Of Looking Dumb). OUR BRAND PROMISE* : To avoid signaling issues, we intentionally will not lead the next round of financing for our accelerator participants. Of course, we can’t guarantee success.

B2B 436

B2B Seed Stage B2C Programming 436

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2015

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity. Solicit funds from friends and family.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 120

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 4, 2022

Even though everyone has an opinion on good early stage practices, I was impressed with the actionable blueprint in the classic book by Scott Duffy, “ Launch! Duffy emphasizes the often overlooked personal side of entrepreneurship, including balancing finances, relationships, and your health.

Early Stage 307

Early Stage Bootstrapping Revenue Framework 307

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2015

I challenge any entrepreneur, for example, to define the difference between "seed-stage" and "early-stage" financing. Asking for early-stage money before you have customers and revenue will likely kill your credibility with real investors. Yet, knowing this distinction is important.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Finance Early Stage Incubator 120

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

Seed-stage compatible: Like traditional equity VC investors, Flexible VCs accomodate early-stage investment risk within their portfolios better than a traditional RBI funder. Eligible for favorable treatment under Qualified Small Business Stock exemption, if structured as equity. “A Typical business stage.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 31, 2022

After many years in business, I’m convinced that none of us has the strengths and interest in all the areas needed for success, including solution changes, finance, marketing, and operations. If your relish the challenges of creating an innovative solution or business model, then this is the type of work you must seek.

Metrics 272

Metrics Early Stage Finance Programming 272

Steve Blank

JUNE 19, 2014

you make substantive changes to one or more parts of your initial business model, and this new data affects your biological and clinical hypotheses. The class provides real world, hands-on learning on how to reduce commercialization risk in early stage therapeutics, diagnostics and device ventures.

Lean 269

Lean SBIR Intellectual Property Customer Development 269

David Teten

JANUARY 21, 2021

VI: Revenue-based financing: The next step for private equity and early-stage investment. This is a summary of: Revenue-Based financing: State of the Industry 2020. VII: Flexible VC, a New Model for Companies Targeting Profitability. We are a year-long, remote accelerator for early-stage SaaS companies.

Equity 78

Equity Revenue Cofounder Colorado 78

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 6, 2013

Thus “creative” really means maximizing non-bank financing. While sizing up the alternatives, I couldn’t help but pick up a new book by Karlene Sinclair-Robinson with the creative title of “ Spank the Bank: The Guide to Alternative Business Financing.” Vendor financing. Purchase order financing. IRA financing.

Finance 243

Finance Startup Equity Early Stage 243

Steve Blank

MARCH 8, 2011

It was designed to bring together many of the new approaches to building a successful startup – customer development, agile development, business model generation and pivots. Startups are in fact only temporary organizations, organized to search –not execute–for a scalable and repeatable business model.

Lean 298

Lean Business Model Customer Development Guinea 298

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 11, 2018

Kabam, the mobile gaming company, hit a major stumbling block in its early days when its financing was lost due to the 2008 financial collapse. As is the right business model, which is the focus of the Don’t Bet on Your First Business Model workshop.

Lean 103

Lean Las Vegas Cofounder Startup 103

David Teten

APRIL 1, 2021

As an agenda for each meeting, I suggest: – How can we most add value, in addition to helping with financing? Real Ventures , an early-stage, Canadian-based fund, runs a two-day Founder Camp every six months. An added bonus is having more comfort and control around your business even when NOT fundraising! .

Private Equity 78

Private Equity Venture Capital Portfolio Equity 78

David Teten

MARCH 18, 2021

A typical VC thesis: “we invest in tech startups in Europe at an early stage” However, our experience shows that in many cases: . Thirty-four VC firms in OpenVC call themselves “early-stage” Yet, 30% of those don’t actually invest in pre-revenue startups. 2) Business model-defined funds.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Cofounder Venture Capital Deal Flow 78

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

million early-stage raise that involved pitching to over a dozen PE firms, which took months to negotiate. Ultimately a deal was reached in which the company’s founders ended up giving up majority stakes in the startup, along with turning over significant business decisions to the private equity investors, in exchange for the capital.

Private Equity 94

Private Equity Pre-Money Valuation Equity Startup 94

Steve Blank

JUNE 26, 2015

The first time a few brave corporate innovators tried to overlay the Lean tools and techniques that work in early-stage startups in an existing corporation, the result was chaos, confusion, frustration and ultimately, failure. Horizon 1 activities support existing business models. Horizon 1 is the company’s core business.

Lean 120

Lean Management Business Model Customer Development 120

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 30, 2019

Even though everyone has an opinion on good early stage practices, I was impressed with the actionable blueprint in the classic book by Scott Duffy, “ Launch! Duffy emphasizes the often overlooked personal side of entrepreneurship, including balancing finances, relationships, and your health.

Early Stage 317

Early Stage Bootstrapping Revenue Framework 317

VC Adventure

NOVEMBER 1, 2023

But because of the lack of knowledge about how the financing system for small businesses and startups works (or doesn’t) in America, many people may miss the significance of the decision by the three-judge 11th circuit panel. But this betrays a fundamental lack of understanding about how small businesses and financing work. (In

North Carolina 68

North Carolina America Early Stage Venture Capital 68

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Unfortunately in early stage startups the drive for financing hijacks the corporate DNA and becomes the raison d’etre of the company. Chasing funding versus chasing customers and a repeatable and scalable business model, is one reason startups fail. What are Early Stage VC’s Really Asking?

Customer Development 262

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 262

Up and Running

DECEMBER 9, 2014

Bates: Good morning and welcome to our CEO panel, “How to Fine-Tune Your Small Business Finances From Funding to Growth” which I think is the direction that we would all like to be going. I’m here with some really phenomenal CEOs who are going to talk to us today about small business finances from funding to growth.

Small Business 95

Small Business Finance Forecast Metrics 95

View from Seed

OCTOBER 28, 2019

Over the past few years, “pre-seed” as a distinct category has emerged within the early stage fundraising landscape. But this financing contour description is just a proxy for underlying business metrics. In fact, they’ve been around even before the pre-seed term emerged prevalent to describe them.

Seed Stage 247

Seed Stage Finance Dilution Early Stage 247

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 31, 2019

Learning everything you can about VC first is important for that reason, but also to ensure it’s the right form of financing for your business. It doesn’t make your business idea a bad one if you conclude that VC isn’t right for you. That is the nature of this business - starting a company is incredibly hard.

Lean 108

Lean Venture Capital Conversion IPO 108

Up and Running

DECEMBER 23, 2019

One of the most important decisions a new business owner can make is how they’re going to finance their venture. . Bootstrapping, saving funds over years, borrowing from friends and family, taking out a bank loan and pitching investors are all viable options, but some will work better than others for your specific business. .

Finance 92

Finance Sweat Equity Bootstrapping Entrepreneur 92

Transformify

SEPTEMBER 12, 2017

Commenced in July 2017, The Youth Enterprise Development Fund provides start-up loans to help young entrepreneurs fund their businesses at a very early stage. Do they possess the skills, experience, and know – how for their businesses to be successful? Business / Finance. Business / Finance.

Africa 75

Africa Benin Nigeria Seychelles 75