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. Apply for contests and business grants. Set expectations accordingly.

Intellectual Property 219

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 219

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. Apply for contests and business grants. Set expectations accordingly.

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. Apply for contests and business grants. Set expectations accordingly.

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. Apply for contests and business grants. Set expectations accordingly.

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. Apply for contests and business grants. Only one-third make it past their tenth anniversary.

Intellectual Property 134

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 134

Professor VC

JANUARY 27, 2011

How Much Diligence is Due.Or Ive addressed the due diligence question in previous posts, but this came up again in a debate we were having at a recent meeting of the Sand Hill Angels. And in order to increase our groups returns, one of our goals should be to get more people and man hours involved in the diligence process.

Technical Review 31

Technical Review Due Diligence Silicon Valley San Jose 31

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 4, 2019

In this final post, I’ll review the foundational building blocks that all companies must continuously measure, refine and optimize if they are to avoid hitting the rocks where so many other startups meet their ruin. What does this mean for their early stage investors? Product Architecture. Team Architecture.

Framework 127

Framework Architecture Cleveland Early Stage 127

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

Our categorization is not a technical one. Additionally, Flexible VC can accommodate all types of companies, not just asset-lite, tech-enabled companies.”. Seed-stage compatible: Like traditional equity VC investors, Flexible VCs accomodate early-stage investment risk within their portfolios better than a traditional RBI funder.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

YoungUpstarts

MAY 24, 2019

In this final post, I’ll review the foundational building blocks that all companies must continuously measure, refine and optimize if they are to avoid hitting the rocks where so many other startups meet their ruin. What does this mean for their early stage investors? Product Architecture. Team Architecture.

Framework 113

Framework Architecture Cleveland Early Stage 113

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. Apply for contests and business grants. Solicit funds from friends and family.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 120

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

I’ve been a traditional equity VC for 8 years, and I’m now researching new business models in venture capital. Since 2017 we’ve managed $3 million in revenue-based financing, which helps cash-strapped technology companies grow. Investment Criteria: B2B SaaS or tech-enabled services with proven, recurring contracts.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

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? I recommend building a strong internal tech stack, to handle the deluge of requests for help you’ll get from companies as you scale. This is an open-ended query and the most important question.).

Private Equity 78

Private Equity Venture Capital Portfolio Equity 78

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

Transformify

SEPTEMBER 12, 2017

Kenya and Nigeria are of a particular interest for the employers in the UK due to the high percentage of English speakers who have received bachelor’s degree or higher. Facing a high unemployment rate among graduates, Kenya encourages entrepreneurship in an effort to create more jobs in the technology sector. Business / Finance.

Africa 75

Africa Benin Seychelles Nigeria 75

Growthink Blog

DECEMBER 27, 2017

Demonstrate your team’s unique unfair competitive advantage, whether it is technology, stellar management team, or key partnerships. Get Growthink's Proven Venture Capital Business Plan Template Here Industry Analysis Goal of the industry analysis section: Prove that there is a real market for your product or service.

Venture Capital 129

Venture Capital Business Plan Technical Review Private Placement 129

Steve Blank

JUNE 19, 2014

Over the last two and a half years the National Science Foundation I-Corps has taught over 300 teams of scientists how to commercialize their technology and how to fail less, increasing their odds for commercial success. identify financing vehicles before you need them. identify financing vehicles before you need them.

Lean 271

Lean SBIR Intellectual Property Customer Development 271

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

Capital investments are like gasoline on a startup business’s metaphorical fire. They allow you to hire more people, purchase new technology, and establish new business connections, among many other benefits. Takeaway lesson: A shocking number of technology startups never even get their first product out the door.

Private Equity 94

Private Equity Pre-Money Valuation Equity Startup 94

Mucker Lab

AUGUST 27, 2014

At the time, LA and Santa Clara were both the epicenter of the technology industry due to the significant overlap between the aerospace/military industry (Los Angeles) and the computing business (Silicon Valley). Furthermore, entrepreneurs don’t necessary build their businesses to be venture-funded.

Los Angeles 138

Los Angeles Southern California Silicon Valley Technical Review 138

Austin Startup

MARCH 1, 2018

The biggest week of the year for tech and startups in Austin, Texas as South by Southwest (SXSW) descends upon the city from March 19–15. Bose will be demonstrating the new technology to app and device developers in a fun, informative setting. There are a zillion things to do, both official and unofficial?—?so Did I miss something?

Technical Review 89

Technical Review Austin Texas Cofounder 89

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

When I met my now-wife, I realized that any technology that can find me a spouse is a killer app. But in business, you want a lot of partners. I’d argue that the same type of technologies that have revolutionized dating can revolutionize our industry. . When I was single, I registered for (a lot of) dating websites.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 19, 2010

Well, I have coached early stage entrepreneurs for a couple of years now - diligently, patiently - and have learned a few things. As you may know, 99% of the entrepreneurs who seek financing, get rejected. The crux of the discussion revolved around segmentation and business models.

Silicon Valley 114

Silicon Valley Technical Review Startup Early Stage 114

Up and Running

AUGUST 21, 2013

Deal with your finances. Whatever the scale of your funds as a young business, what is essential is the accuracy of your understanding of them. Just think about tech giants such as Samsung, Google, Microsoft and Facebook—it is this competition and analysis that has led to their constant innovation. Conduct regular reviews.

Technical Review 69

Technical Review Early Stage Business Plan Global 69

Professor VC

SEPTEMBER 26, 2011

How would Billy Beane have done as an early stage investor? Dan Frommer, in Moneyball for tech startups , interviewed Fred Wilson, Chris Dixon, Paul Graham and Ben Horowitz on the topic. Labels: due diligence , early stage investing , moneyball , valuation. How Much Diligence is Due.

Technical Review 38

Technical Review Early Stage San Jose Angel Investor 38

Austin Startup

AUGUST 20, 2017

Early stage startups have to survive one day at a time and are often presented with limited choices of the moment that enable them to continue. There are many ways to measure technical skills and check work histories and achievements, but assessment of team chemistry is a high art form. Are the logistics manageable?

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Software Review Cap Table Securities and Exchange Commission 48

genylabs.typepad.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Tracking and Forecasting the Trends Impacting the Future of Small Business. Welcome to Small Business Labs. Small Business Labs, from Emergent Research , covers the key social, technology and business trends impacting small business. Small Business Blogs. New Communications Review.

Equity 40

Equity Technical Review San Jose Stock 40

Duct Tape Marketing

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

02:06] Can you share your experience starting with an early-stage company (Hubspot) that eventually went public? [07:11] Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please! I think the net of it is it went from HubSpot teaching a business model to follow to more of a partner program where you're reselling technology.

Metrics 75

Metrics Analytics Forecast Software Review 75

Up and Running

MAY 3, 2012

Entrepreneurship continues to be a sexy topic for governments, with every country worth its salt trying to create its own tech hub, mimicking Silicon Valley. And besides, obtaining early-stage investment is no guarantee of success, either. The appeal of promoting entrepreneurship is obvious. What is there not to like?

Entrepreneur 82

Entrepreneur Technical Review Silicon Valley Lean 82

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 10, 2010

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. I call it drip-financing. In 1M/1M, our preferred financing strategy is customers. Because customer financing equals revenue, not equity.

Cloud 115

Cloud Silicon Valley Incubator Finance 115

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

I will work with him on his inventory financing strategy. Then Dhana Cohen pitched TheNextBigZing.com where she has collected various merchants with video reviews of products. Her upcoming campaign of reaching out to 100,000 moms will be one of the first concerted efforts to actually test her business model.

India 114

India Silicon Valley Incubator Bootstrapping 114

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

While the answers are somewhat semantic, the pre-seed funding round is making a comeback in 2024 startup financing. Pre-seed rounds accounted for 14% of all seed stage deals in 2023, up from just 5% in 2020 according to Pitchbook data and I predict it will be even higher in 2024. Seed is about showing initial product market fit.

Valuation 186

Valuation Software Review Generative AI Technical Review 186

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

Charge-back accounting solution for large enterprises deploying cloud technologies. Ric Telford, VP of cloud services, IBM pointed me to the rather significant move towards rolling out private clouds at large enterprises, a move that IBM is spearheading by providing full stacks of infrastructure technologies. Sequoia has financed them.

Cloud 117

Cloud Fractional CTO Entrepreneur Bandwidth 117

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Technology | Thursdays. Small Business Success | Mondays and Thursdays. The Goods: Your Business Toolbox | Thursdays. Finance | Tuesdays. Todays Small Business News | Daily. Financing a Small Business. Buying a Small Business. RUNNING A BUSINESS. Financing A Small Business.

Arizona 40

Arizona Equity Iowa Venture Capital 40

VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 2, 2019

All Good to Great companies began the process of finding a path to greatness by confronting the brutal facts about the reality of their business. When you start with an honest and diligent effort to determine the truth of your situation, the right decisions often become self-evident.” — Jim Collins , author of Good to Great.

B2C 141

B2C Technical Review Startup Retention 141

Professor VC

APRIL 7, 2011

This will also serve as a good pointer for all the entrepreneurs who ask why I am not interested in their company led convertible note financing round. Technically, the start-up is insolvent from the day they take the first dollar of investment. In cases where it is truly a bridge financing (i.e.

San Jose 36

San Jose Technical Review Angel Investor Valuation 36

Professor VC

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

DEMO has always been one of my favorite tech conferences. Labels: #democon , DEMO , tech conferences , vuvuzela. How Much Diligence is Due. I take CFO roles in early stage companies and participate on the management team during the early financings and business model development phases.

Technical Review 38

Technical Review San Jose Angel Investor Silicon Valley 38

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

I have been close to the tech & startup sectors for more than 20 years and I can’t think of a period in which I felt more optimistic about the innovation and value creation I see in front of us. Try charging customers for your product when you have 12 competitors giving the product away free finances by $20 million of VC.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

For angel groups, the distinction between groups and VCs on this issue is dwindling, especially as angel groups do bigger rounds of financing.   You can vary both valuation and term-sheet assumptions (in the gray boxes) to assess the impact on the values of the business. This is why a bottom up approach is more credible.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68