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. Of the Inc. 5000 companies, only 6.5% raised from angels.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 13, 2021

If you are an aspiring entrepreneur, or an existing business, and haven’t yet sized any of these opportunities, you may be already late to the game. Usually these are revenue-generating e-commerce sites, or have the potential to be revenue-generating. There is value in the “idling capacity” of all assets. Restaurants.

Cuba 316

Cuba Venture Capital Community Valuation 316

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2016

Some analysts argue that revenue drives growth, while others say user growth drives revenue. Google reached $1B in revenue within five years of incorporation, and now has a market capitalization of over $400B. A business only achieved critical mass by becoming cash-flow positive. Both have worked.

Revenue 145

Revenue Valuation Startup Viral 145

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 404

Cram Down Founder Venture Capital Recapitalization 404

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

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

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

Term-sheets and Valuations: Thinking about Negotiations.   I’ve sat down with entrepreneurs and a copy of a term sheet guide I like [ “Term Sheets & Valuations - A Line by Line Look at the Intricacies of Venture Capital Term Sheets & Valuations ” by Alex Wilmerding, Aspatore Press.] The Valuation Question.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

Companies horde cash and squeeze the most revenue and margin from the money they use. Look at the valuations of companies like Tesla, Illumina, and Twitter. The first will be commodity businesses that are valued for their ability to execute their current business model. Act Like a Startup.

Private Equity 325

Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 325

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

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

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

That’s because obtaining a pre-money valuation for a concept level technology company in excess of $1 million is difficult, particularly for a startup founder without a proven track record. By contrast, obtaining a pre-money valuation of $5 million for a business with a new viable product and even very minimal sales is somewhat reasonable.

Private Equity 94

Private Equity Pre-Money Valuation Equity Startup 94

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 . And >40% of that revenue is coming from in-game purchases. The app could then take a small % of all revenue from “paid” messages.

Networking 168

Networking Global OTC Security 168

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 24, 2011

billion to work across 738 financing deals with U.S. Your friends and family are really the only answer until you have a significant revenue stream. Here are some key action items that will give you some priority: Create an investment-grade business plan. To make this work, you will need an initial valuation of at least $5M.

Venture Capital 233

Venture Capital Revenue Elevator Pitch Silicon Valley 233

ReadWriteStart

JULY 17, 2023

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

India 104

India Acquisition Merger Curation 104

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 2, 2019

If you are an aspiring entrepreneur, or an existing business, and haven’t yet sized any of these opportunities, you may be already late to the game. Usually these are revenue-generating e-commerce sites, or have the potential to be revenue-generating. There is value in the “idling capacity” of all assets. Restaurants.

Cuba 246

Cuba Venture Capital Community Valuation 246

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. I call it drip-financing. Kir Devries.

Cloud 115

Cloud Silicon Valley Incubator Finance 115

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 91

eCommerce Valuation B2C Revenue 91

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

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 13, 2019

Consider convertible debt Before diving into a seed round, you may want to consider convertible debt over equity financing. 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.

Strategic Investors 49

Strategic Investors Austin Angel Investor Bootstrapping 49

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 1, 2023

We’re hitting record revenue months, weeks, and margins. 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. And they probably never will be unless business model viability is reassessed across the board.

Early Stage 109

Early Stage Los Angeles Silicon Valley Cofounder 109

Lightspeed Venture Partners

OCTOBER 7, 2012

The two founders invested $40k in the business, and plan to license it rather than manufacture it because manufacturing seems too hard. They won a design award at a trade show, but have no revenue and no orders. That’s why most entrepreneurs do not make a specific ask on valuation, but wait to hear offers from investors.

Technical Review 110

Technical Review Technical Cofounder Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 110

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

especially if the startup already has a product and revenue? While the answers are somewhat semantic, the pre-seed funding round is making a comeback in 2024 startup financing. A founder asked me what makes a $2M round “pre-seed”? Pre-seed tends to be about developing an MVP and generating early traction.

Valuation 186

Valuation Software Review Generative AI Technical Review 186

This is going to be BIG.

MAY 9, 2022

5) Is the post-money on your last round north of $30mm and you’ve yet to show meaningful and repeatable revenue traction that comes with positive contribution margins? It was super hard to get any kind of financing before, and it will remain so. 3) Do you need to raise a large amount of growth capital in 2022? But, you know what?

Stock 97

Stock Marketing Valuation Later Stage 97

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.

San Francisco 154

San Francisco Business Model Silicon Valley Coder 154

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 217

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 217

ReadWriteStart

MARCH 24, 2011

The discussion today was around Social Media financing and go-to-market strategy. Additional work in figuring out the precise go-to-market consumer, academic institution, or enterprise - each is a different business), and consequent business model and pricing model will help enhance the company's valuation.

Illinois 114

Illinois Entrepreneur Silicon Valley Chicago 114

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 79

Entrepreneur Technical Review Cofounder Valuation 79

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 16, 2021

Let’s start with a short definition: [the creator economy] is defined as the class of businesses built by over 50 million independent content creators, curators, and community builders including social media influencers, bloggers, and videographers, plus the software and finance tools designed to help them with growth and monetization.

Startup 207

Startup Social Media Venture Capital Audio 207

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

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. Business Taxes.

Arizona 40

Arizona Equity Iowa Venture Capital 40

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 15, 2014

Even a small investor in the early days will take a large equity percentage, due to that pesky valuation challenge. At least wait until later, when you ready to scale, and have some “leverage” based on a proven business model, some real customers, and real revenue.

Bootstrapping 276

Bootstrapping Entrepreneur Startup Burn Rate 276

Cracking the Code

NOVEMBER 13, 2008

The fact that SaaS valuations are being more affected by the downturn than the Nasdaq can be surprising given the supposed resiliency of the SaaS model (recurring revenues) but it translates the public investors belief that SMB software spend is going to be hit very hard by this recession. multiple fell down to ~2.2x

Software Review 48

Software Review Technical Review Valuation Portfolio 48

Scalable Startup

AUGUST 26, 2014

As further market proof of the power of Drupal in the enterprise, Acquia has received about $100 million in funding in the past 3 months, which puts its valuation at over $1 billion. They kind of invented this business model. Google has optimized this open source to freemium model in almost all of its products.

Founder 42

Founder Los Angeles PHP Open Source 42

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 11, 2016

If you are an aspiring entrepreneur, or an existing business, and haven’t yet sized any of these opportunities, you may be already late to the game. Usually these are revenue-generating e-commerce sites, or have the potential to be revenue-generating. There is value in the “idling capacity” of all assets. Restaurants.

Cuba 120

Cuba Marketing Venture Capital Community 120

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

Steve Blank

APRIL 1, 2020

But other businesses like law firms, contracting firms, real estate firms, will take hits, too. Your revenue plans are no longer valid. What’s your monthly cash burn at your new low revenue level? Others are cutting their valuations. Days 3 and 4: Prepare new business model and operating plan.

South Korea 333

South Korea Salary Business Model China 333

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2015

If you are an aspiring entrepreneur, or an existing business, and haven’t yet sized any of these opportunities, you may be already late to the game. Usually these are revenue-generating e-commerce sites, or have the potential to be revenue-generating. There is value in the “idling capacity” of all assets. Restaurants.

Cuba 120

Cuba Entrepreneur Venture Capital Community 120

Agile VC

NOVEMBER 6, 2013

So their revenue figures, pre IPO financing and ownership, and other info is all widely available. I thought I’d provide a little analysis of Twitter based on their S-1, but also strive to put it in a broader context of other consumer internet businesses and where we are in the current tech cycle.

IPO 194

IPO Aggregator B2B Internet 194