Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 25, 2023

Should they focus on increasing revenues and profitability, or entice more and more users with “free” services, to increase their valuation. A business only achieved critical mass by becoming cash-flow positive. Re-investing profits to grow the business is organic growth. Most are still confused about the right priority.

Valuation 235

Valuation Revenue Viral Retention 235

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

But this mania to not miss out on the next big thing is driving some investors to pay growth-equity prices for traditional market risk (as in, they’re paying up before it is clear there is product / market fit). And for some that means that despite waiting they may see worse valuations in the future than now. Have a cushion.

Saudi Arabia 309

Saudi Arabia Valuation IPO Technical Review 309

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

Every year I teach classrooms full of students who leave class understanding the basics of how to search for product/market fit—and thinking their next goal is to “get funded.”. You (think) you have product-market fit with real customers and real revenue and need money to grow and expand. That’s a mistake. Step 5: Series, C, D….

Cofounder 431

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 431

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

Cheered on by finance professors, Wall Street analysts, investors and hedge funds, companies have learned how to make metrics like Internal Rate of Return look great by one; outsourcing everything, two, getting assets off their balance sheet, and three only investing in things that pay off fast. We legalized robbing the corporate treasury.

Private Equity 328

Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 328

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 21, 2020

Should they focus on increasing revenues and profitability, or entice more and more users with “free” services, to increase their valuation. A business only achieved critical mass by becoming cash-flow positive. Re-investing profits to grow the business is organic growth. Most are still confused about the right priority.

Revenue 434

Revenue Valuation Viral Retention 434

Steve Blank

APRIL 26, 2022

At the turn of the century after the dotcom crash, startup valuations plummeted, burn rates were unsustainable, and startups were quickly running out of cash. Most existing investors (those still in business) hoarded their money and stopped doing follow-on rounds until the rubble had cleared. They’re Back. Why do VCs Do This?

Cram Down 412

Cram Down Founder Venture Capital Recapitalization 412

View from Seed

APRIL 20, 2020

Instead, the sole goal with of the program is RESULTS, namely: Demonstrably advancing a startup towards true product-market fit. We will leverage the standard YC post-money SAFE document with a valuation cap and no discount. Further capitalizing the company for success. Of course, we can’t guarantee success.

B2B 436

B2B Seed Stage B2C Programming 436

Steve Blank

MAY 9, 2017

And to today, when its major product is simply innovation. When the product and channel are bits, adoption by 10’s and 100’s of millions and even billions of users can happen in years versus decades. The second thing that’s changed is that we’re now Compressing the Product Development Cycle.

Restful 231

Restful Silicon Valley Puerto Rico San Jose 231

Up and Running

AUGUST 17, 2022

Lack of a large market or actual product-market fit. Investors want to have a real shot at growing your valuation when they write you a check. They want your business to be able to scale up. This will be difficult if your business model doesn’t easily scale. Your business isn’t primed for growth.

Venture Capital 146

Venture Capital Intellectual Property Angel Investor Bootstrapping 146

Tim Keane

MARCH 9, 2011

How to prepare a sales forecast for a business plan » March 09, 2011. How should I finance my new venture? It’s a deceptively simple question:  what is the optimal way to finance a new startup?   Sometimes, the bonus in bootstrapping is that the venture finds it doesn’t need acceleration financing. 

Finance 83

Finance Bootstrapping Startup Equity 83

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

Some really great stuff in 2010 that aims to help startups around product, technology, business models, etc.

Silicon Valley 378

Silicon Valley Startup Term Sheet Venture Capital 378

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

Rule 1: Bootstrap until you have a viable product. Background: Justin Klemm’s analytics and website uptime startup, Ghost Inspector , wants to revolutionize the way businesses manage their ecommerce funnels. 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

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2015

Most technologists have little interest in the mechanics of starting and building a business. That’s why I recommend that they find a co-founder who loves business challenges, including marketing and finance. 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

Hearpreneur

AUGUST 5, 2020

We have a campaign to make consumers more aware of how their products are made, which will in turn dictate how producers are going to create these products. Supercritical CO2 is already the gold standard for the extraction industry,producing a high quality, organic end product that commands top dollar. Jon Thompson.

Technical Review 157

Technical Review Software Review Entrepreneur China 157

Reid Hoffman

JULY 27, 2021

When I decided I wanted to start a company, I realized that I needed to pick up certain skills first, like product management, knowledge of online services, and a practical understanding of commercial software development. Going to business school is one of the worst places to accomplish this. It’s okay to prepare yourself first.

Silicon Valley 69

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Balance Sheet Cofounder 69

Reid Hoffman

JULY 27, 2021

When I decided I wanted to start a company, I realized that I needed to pick up certain skills first, like product management, knowledge of online services, and a practical understanding of commercial software development. Going to business school is one of the worst places to accomplish this. It’s okay to prepare yourself first.

Silicon Valley 69

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Balance Sheet Cofounder 69

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

ReadWriteStart

JULY 17, 2023

The platform has raised over $225 million through equity and debt financing to date. 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

Version One Ventures

OCTOBER 15, 2020

Let’s now explore the major developments and ultimate use cases for the Lightning Network in two categories: A) payments/finance and B) Web3. . Use Case I: Payments and Finance . Other products like Sparkswap, which allowed users to buy Lightning BTC via atomic swaps, faced the same challenge. 1) Generalizable Payments .

Networking 168

Networking Global OTC Security 168

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

Yes, via conversion rights at a valuation cap. Yes, via conversion rights at a valuation cap. Part of the magic of revenue-based financing is how historical performance and strong, achievable financial projections are ultimately the backbone of how RBI/RBF investment decisions are made.” Typical business stage.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

David Teten

AUGUST 20, 2019

I’ve been a traditional equity VC for 8 years, and I’m now researching new business models in venture capital. Revenue-Based Investing (“RBI”) is a new form of VC financing, distinct from the preferred equity structure most VCs use. Note that Clearbanc has a somewhat different business model than the RBI VCs I list here.).

Revenue 60

Revenue Cofounder Founder Venture Capital 60

View from Seed

JANUARY 11, 2023

Time to set real goals, iterate through real product pushes, craft real go-to-market strategies, make real introductions to downstream investors, the list goes on and on. Think partners coming together to tap their own networks for your follow-on rounds of financing. The Clarity of the Terms : how will your company be financed?

Programming 156

Programming Sacramento San Francisco Founder 156

Lightspeed Venture Partners

OCTOBER 7, 2012

The first company started as a BBQ catering business, and eventually focused in on their most popular product, a dip made of blended up chicken plus various sauces. While they were very complimentary of the team and product, they all gave versions of the “I’m not the right guy to help, so I’m out” pass.

Technical Review 110

Technical Review Technical Cofounder Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 110

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Automation allows you to spend less time on tedious tasks and will help boost productivity, especially within a small marketing team. Russell Rothstein, Founder and CEO, IT Central Station , a product review site, said, “We see VCs on our site very often. They read reviews of the products of target investments.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

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

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 6, 2014

I like to think that our generation’s digital skills are replacing the startup’s traditional hunt for capital – all we need is a good idea, our team specs it out to make it sell, and we self-finance each company off its own cash flow. The simple things are often the best products. Fail early, but don’t fail often.

San Francisco 154

San Francisco Business Model Silicon Valley Coder 154

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 9, 2022

2) Do you sell something that isn’t truly a must-have product to startups or other tech companies? It’s never a good thing to be selling a product for a loss on every sale before you even pay your overhead, or selling something that’s a vitamin, and not medicine. 3) Do you need to raise a large amount of growth capital in 2022?

Stock 97

Stock Marketing Valuation Later Stage 97

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 1, 2023

There are currently tons of “zombie” startups that have runway, but growth has slowed and they have valuations that they won’t be able to grow into. Be honest with yourself VCs are now going to be looking closer at margins, cost structures and true sales, and product market fit. they still aren’t profitable.

Early Stage 146

Early Stage Los Angeles Silicon Valley Cofounder 146

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

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. Is there a profitable business model? How many are there?

Customer Development 266

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 266

Women Entrepreneurs Can

NOVEMBER 19, 2022

These firms can provide various services, including financing and business advice. They can also help you develop your product and sales channels. This is usually done through a prototype , which shows the key characteristics of your product. This allows you to skip the complicated valuation calculations.

Venture Capital 52

Venture Capital Early Stage Liquidity Event SEC 52

reidhoffman.org

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

Friendster’s valuation set the tone for the entire social networking space. Press and analysts characterized LinkedIn in one of two ways: “LinkedIn is an interesting niche that might be worth paying attention to” or “LinkedIn is the Friendster for business”. Second, understand the broader financing climate.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Revenue Viral Networking 111

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2016

Should they focus on increasing revenues and profitability, or entice more and more users with “free” services, to increase their valuation. A business only achieved critical mass by becoming cash-flow positive. Re-investing profits to grow the business is organic growth. Most are still confused about the right priority.

Revenue 145

Revenue Valuation Startup Viral 145

crowdSPRING Blog

APRIL 26, 2013

If there’s one video 1st time founders should watch to understand VC financing it’s this one – [link]. Five Branding Mistakes That Will Cripple Your Small Business (and how to avoid making them) – [link]. “sometimes you have the right product but the wrong business model.”

Social Media 90

Social Media Small Business Design Media 90

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2014

Should they focus on increasing revenues and profitability, or entice more and more users with free services to increase their valuation. A business only achieved critical mass by becoming cash-flow positive. Re-investing profits to grow the business is organic growth. Most are still confused about the right priority.

Revenue 246

Revenue Entrepreneur Valuation Viral 246

Austin Startup

AUGUST 20, 2017

Keep the valuations consistent with company progress. Messy cap tables can come back to haunt you when you do a financing or sell the company. 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. Are the logistics manageable?

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Software Review Cap Table Securities and Exchange Commission 48

Duct Tape Marketing

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

So, you know, I, I have kids that are in their thirties and I'm envisioning a purple dinosaur that I did a a lot of watching with, but I guess there's also Smith Barney, which is certainly in the finance space, but I'm sure you have and Barney. Are they all SMBs small businesses or do you have enterprise really big clients?

Entrepreneur 77

Entrepreneur Technical Review Cofounder Valuation 77