YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 19, 2017

by Marek Danyluk, managing partner at Space Executive. There is a thin line between success and failure for startups, and that is usually determined by capital. The more capital a startup has, the easier it is to get off the ground and ramp up growth. Take China-based AI startup SenseTime, for example.

Venture Capital 196

Venture Capital Asia Artificial Inteligence Later Stage 196

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2014

Venture capitalists (VCs) have long been seen as the top of the pyramid for startup funding sources, but in fact angel investors now fund over 60 times as many companies, according the Center for Venture Research. The cost of entry for tech startups continues to go down. Super Angels have greater scope to match talent with a startup.

Angel Investor 260

Angel Investor Silicon Valley Startup Portfolio 260

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

Each VC firm/partner has a different spin on what to weigh more.) 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.

Silicon Valley 224

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 224

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 26, 2010

Startups are usually so focused on selling more of their branded product or service to their own customer base (organic growth) that they don’t consider the more indirect methods (non-organic growth) of increasing revenue and market share. An example of a startup which used non-organic growth early and effectively was Microsoft.

Acquisition 214

Acquisition Merger Startup Bandwidth 214

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 15, 2011

Startups are usually so focused on selling more of their branded product or service to their own customer base (organic growth) that they don’t consider the more indirect methods (non-organic growth) of increasing revenue and market share. An example of a startup which used non-organic growth early and effectively was Microsoft.

Startup 232

Startup Merger Bandwidth Acquisition 232

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2014

Luckily, not all investors are looking for the same thing, so it pays to know what type of investors are most interested in what your startup brings to the table. The key is understanding how potential investors see you, and especially how they view the maturity stage of your startup. Congratulations!

Angel Investor 232

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 232

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2016

Entrepreneurs who are looking to attract investors need to develop and pitch a plan -- preferably written -- that answers every potential investor question about your startup before it is asked. What is the business problem you are solving? How does your business model make money?

Sweat Equity 120

Sweat Equity Advisory Board Liquidity Event Startup 120

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2018

Luckily, not all investors are looking for the same thing, so it pays to know what type of investors are most interested in what your startup brings to the table. The key is understanding how potential investors see you, and especially how they view the maturity stage of your startup. Congratulations!

Angel Investor 184

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 184

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 17, 2012

Startups are usually so focused on selling more of their branded product or service to their own customer base (organic growth) that they don’t consider the more indirect methods (non-organic growth) of increasing revenue and market share. An example of a startup which used non-organic growth early and effectively was Microsoft.

Entrepreneur 249

Entrepreneur Merger Bandwidth Acquisition 249

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2016

Luckily, not all investors are looking for the same thing, so it pays to know what type of investors are most interested in what your startup brings to the table. The key is understanding how potential investors see you, and especially how they view the maturity stage of your startup. Congratulations!

Matching 120

Matching Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers 120

Austin Startup

NOVEMBER 12, 2017

Let’s talk first about an angel round to individual investors, all of whom may be duly accredited but many of whom may have no background that enables them to understand fully your idea and your business model. Large deals take the same management time and attention as smaller ones and are a better use of partner resources.

Term Sheet 48

Term Sheet Technical Review Due Diligence Merger 48

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2015

Image via Pixabay.com Startups are usually so focused on selling more of their branded product or service to their own customer base (organic growth) that they don’t consider the more indirect methods (non-organic growth) of increasing revenue and market share. Even mergers and acquisitions (M&A) came quickly. Fresh customer base.

Merger 120

Merger Acquisition Differentiation Channel 120

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 19, 2015

Today he runs SynbiCITE , the UK’s synthetic biology consortium of 56 industrial partners and 19 Academic institutions located at Imperial College in London. The reason I came back is the same reason I left – to be where life science startups are happening. Or you could start your own company, which I did after Vertex.

Lean 120

Lean Startup Massachusetts Merger 120

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 18, 2017

If you are proposing a merger or acquisition, or simply seeking an investor for your business, the process is the same. This may seem intuitively obvious, but as an angel investor, I have heard hundreds of new business pitches that focus heavily on the product, but don’t tell the rest of the story.

Merger 146

Merger Angel Investor Social Media Audience 146

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2012

As a member of the local Angel group selection committee, I’ve seen a lot of startup presentations to investors, and I’ve never seen one that was too short - maybe short on content, but not short on pages! Every startup needs both a business plan and an investor presentation, completed before you formally approach any investors.

Elevator Pitch 247

Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy Burn Rate Merger 247

Steve Blank

JULY 15, 2010

VC’s invested their limited partners’ “risk capital” in a portfolio of startups in exchange for illiquid stock. Most of the startups they invested in either died by running out of money before they found a scalable business model or ended up in the “land of the living dead” by never growing (failing to Pivot.).

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital IPO Liquidity Event Entrepreneur 299

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 10, 2011

As a member of the local Angel group selection committee, I’ve seen a lot of startup presentations to investors, and I’ve never seen one that was too short - maybe short on content, but not short on pages! Every startup needs both a business plan and an investor presentation, completed before you formally approach any investors.

Elevator Pitch 234

Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy Burn Rate Merger 234

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2010

As a member of the local angel group Selection Committee, I’ve seen a lot of startup presentations to investors, and I’ve never seen one that was too short - maybe short on content, but not short on pages! Every startup needs both a business plan and an investor presentation, completed before you formally approach any investors.

Elevator Pitch 235

Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy Burn Rate Merger 235

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

Explain the business model. Many people seem to use the social network advertising model for revenue, but forget it assumes at least 100M users and $50M investment. Marketing, sales, and partners. Convince investors that you have lined up sales channels, strategic partners, and a viable marketing strategy.

Business Plan 283

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 283

Scott Edward Walker

OCTOBER 13, 2011

When I reviewed the invoice, I saw the partner was billing us at $740 an hour, a senior associate at $595 an hour and a junior associate at $350 an hour. The first thing you should do is call the partner and tell him that you have a problem with the fees. The problem is we’re getting killed on fees. Negotiate Lower Rates.

Los Angeles 85

Los Angeles San Francisco New York City Silicon Valley 85

Gust

AUGUST 19, 2012

As a member of the local Angel group selection committee, I’ve seen a lot of startup presentations to investors, and I’ve never seen one that was too short – maybe short on content, but not short on pages! Every startup needs both a business plan and an investor presentation, completed before you formally approach any investors.

Elevator Pitch 146

Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy Burn Rate Merger 146

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2011

Explain the business model. Many people seem to use the social network advertising model for revenue, but forget it assumes at least 100M users and $50M investment. Marketing, sales, and partners. Convince investors that you have lined up sales channels, strategic partners, and a viable marketing strategy.

Business Plan 290

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 290

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 17, 2015

In the first stage the Outpost focusses on networking and partnering in the Innovation Cluster in which it is based (i.e. Stage 1: Networking and Partnering – the Technology Connectors. Startups, entrepreneurs, and management teams. It may invest in a few startups in this Stage but that’s not the goal.).

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Incubator Acquisition Business Model 120

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Advisor. ); STARTUP. Writing A Business Plan. Running A Home-Based Business. Naming a Business. Financing a Small Business. Buying a Small Business. RUNNING A BUSINESS. Over the past year or so, work-for-equity arrangements have become an integral part of Arizona Bays business model.

Arizona 40

Arizona Equity Iowa Venture Capital 40

Reid Hoffman

MARCH 19, 2019

What makes this tricky is that markets evolve, and an innovative technology or business model can transform a normal market into a Glengarry Glen Ross market. In it we explicitly state: “The real value creation comes when innovative technology enables innovative products and services with innovative business models….What

Cofounder 28

Cofounder Business Model IPO Non-Compete 28

The Next Web

OCTOBER 2, 2013

The larger your customer base, the more opportunities for monetization, and therefore the more attractive your startup is for investors. In this aspect, China’s huge market seems ripe for the taking — and which firms are better-placed to do so than homegrown startups, especially app developers looking to conquer the mobile market?

China 122

China Developer Intellectual Property Mobile 122

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 31, 2019

Scott Kupor is the managing partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where he’s responsible for all operational aspects of running the firm. It’s meant to support and grow a business until an “exit” in the form of an IPO, a merger or acquisition, or in less than ideal scenarios, a company shutdown.

Lean 108

Lean Venture Capital Conversion IPO 108

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2010

Explain the business model. Many people seem to use the social network advertising model for revenue, but forget it requires at least 100M users and $50M investment. Marketing, sales, and partners. Convince investors that you have lined up sales channels, strategic partners, and a viable marketing strategy.

Business Plan 186

Business Plan Exit Strategy Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 186

VC Cafe

JANUARY 15, 2024

M&A/ Exits – This situation is compounded by a narrowing window for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and initial public offerings (IPOs). Instead of purely chasing high-growth ventures, many PE firms focused on companies with robust business models and clear paths to profitability.

IPO 88

IPO Valuation Private Equity 88

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 8, 2015

These corporate Innovation Outposts monitor Silicon Valley for new innovative technologies and/or companies (as emerging threats or potential tools for disruption) and then take advantage of these innovations by creating new products or investing in startups. Startups are developing IP relevant to the disruption.

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Acquisition Boston Early Stage 120

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Problem was, I seemed to suck at the whole startup thing. Rather, I didn’t have anyone around me familiar enough with startups to tell me that I was doing it all wrong. One of the things I do as a founder of a later stage startup is to meet with early stage entrepreneurs to help them get their companies going. No phone system.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 84

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 25, 2020

People tell me there may be over 8,000 dating sites with scientific matchmaking algorithms worldwide, but I couldn’t find one that focused on scientifically matching companies and people for business-to-business (B2B) relationships. Understand required changes to the current business model.

B2B 388

B2B Matching Partner Algorithm 388