Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

We realized that operating a business in distributed markets presented multi-city coordination efforts that we weren’t prepared for. were more distributed. At MakeSpace we had to build complex models to tell us how our pricing and conversion compared down to the neighborhood level.

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

Agile VC

APRIL 17, 2011

Distribution revenue is CPC and CPA. . At the end of the day Kayak’s playing a key role in the online travel process, but it appears more of the revenue comes from filling top of the conversion funnel rather than the middle or bottom of it. Kayak generates both distribution (i.e. Pre-money valuation was approx.

Pre-Money Valuation 113

Pre-Money Valuation Liquidation Preference Dividend Common Stock 113

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

AUGUST 18, 2015

They have everything: money, brand, momentum, existing customers, press, product teams, distribution channels, expertise, market insight, analysts, sales offices, product features, and, by definition, a working business model. In the big-boy and big-girl world of real, at-scale companies, valuation is about total future earnings.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Valuation Flash Revenue 120

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

This post is inspired by some of the earliest conversations I have had with the team here at NextView and since the beginning of my VC journey. Or is there a major disconnect between a portfolio’s valuations and the actual dollars returned to LPs? Both early- and late-stage startup valuations are currently elevated.

Valuation 156

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Distribution Early Stage 156

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

Yes, via conversion rights at a valuation cap. Yes, via conversion rights at a valuation cap. Flexible VC creates early liquidity which can be either reinvested or distributed to LPs. Capacity Capital, Greater Colorado Venture Fund, Indie.VC, Reformation Partners, UP Fund, Versatile VC.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

Valuations are out of control” is the mantra of others. If you look at some high-profile tech companies funded in the last big VC cycle you had eBay, Amazon, Salesforce & Google each go public having raised < $100 million in VC TOTAL prior to IPO and their last private-market valuation were all sub $400 million.

Venture Capital 292

Venture Capital IPO Mezzanine Early Stage 292

Austin Startup

OCTOBER 15, 2017

What seems to be the best way to create customers and revenue may result in a business model that is out of vogue with the investment world and shortchanges you on enterprise valuation. As a founder cognizant of finding revenue anywhere you can, you are not likely to turn away today’s dollars for a conceptual future enterprise valuation.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Software Review Nevada Silicon Valley 48

Up and Running

JUNE 14, 2017

And that, by the way, was a great conversion rate for a simple survey-based research for the initial free subscription version of Recycler Spotter. Then, about two weeks before launch, I distributed a survey to those 256 partners. It wasn’t a scalable solution, but it was a start. 60 percent of respondents chose premium!

Technical Review 96

Technical Review Distribution Redemption Demand 96

Austin Startup

JULY 18, 2018

It leads to better products, better strategy, better marketing, bigger valuations and faster growth. Talent may be evenly distributed but opportunity most definitely is not. Diversity in tech and in business leads to greater chances of success. It leads to better ideas and more creativity. systemic” and “institutional”?—?acknowledge

Technical Review 56

Technical Review San Antonio Houston Software Review 56

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2020

A seed deal hasn’t already been “priced up” to a range where a new investor might be concerned about the valuation relative to performance. Food production and distribution, group collaboration, remote training or education, sensor technology (tracking people movement, temperatures, etc), certain biotech deals. Raise when you can.

Marketing 263

Marketing Valuation Churn Rate Balance Sheet 263

ConversionXL

JULY 16, 2021

Make sure to update and re-distribute them as needed. It took 10 years and steady growth, punctuated by a brilliant messaging strategy, to achieve a $5 billion valuation. . Keep an eye on analytics and conversions to pinpoint drops and determine when you might need to adjust your differentiator and your marketing messages.

Audience 127

Audience Framework Differentiation Software Review 127

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2017

And it’s not just that VCs cut their investment pace but they also indicated overwhelmingly that valuations of investments had dropped with 76% of all VCs surveyed suggesting 2016 had lower valuations than 2015. So if funding from VCs slowed, valuations dropped and burn rates were slashed, WTF happened to winter again?

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Saudi Arabia Kuwait Burn Rate 150

The Equity Kicker

MAY 14, 2012

There are certain types of events that investors look to as evidence that a company has overcome certain challenges and has therefore reduced risk in the business and become deserving of a higher valuation. signing distribution deals. demonstrating that signed distribution deals are working. achieving first revenues.

Finance 118

Finance Valuation Venture Capital Dilution 118

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

In the past few years, hundreds of small companies have been snatched up by private equity firms willing to agree to ever-rising valuations. Because many of these businesses dont yet have revenue, valuation discussions arent very scientific, and the process requires some haggling. Its easy to see where Graham is coming from.

Arizona 40

Arizona Equity Iowa Venture Capital 40

Austin Startup

MARCH 23, 2017

Priced equity financings make sense as they provide clarity around valuation and ownership dilution, while creating alignment between the investors and founders. was originally published in Austin Startups on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story. Well, it depends.

Dilution 54

Dilution Equity Warrant Distribution 54

The Equity Kicker

JUNE 6, 2016

Robert Scoble is perhaps the greatest blogger of them all, so when I started blogging in 2006 I read Naked Conversations , his guide to blogging. In summary, posting frequency no longer effects distribution. Next up will be some thoughts on mutual funds investing in startups and their impact on valuations and the VC industry.

Equity 60

Equity Aggregator Valuation Distribution 60

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 18, 2018

billion merger with 21 st -Century Fox, many experts feel Netflix will need a stronger distribution and acquisition arm in order to compete. In summer 2017, talk bubbled over about Slack’s possible acquisition; it was reported in June that Slack was focused on raising half a billion dollars on a $5 billion valuation.

Merger 70

Merger Acquisition Stock Valuation 70

Haystack

DECEMBER 26, 2018

” “Multiples and valuations are out of control!” ” Pick your favorite doomsday one-liner, and it’s likely to fit the conversation. ” “Most of the country doesn’t have any savings!” ” “When the tide goes out, we’ll see who is swimming naked !”

IPO 76

IPO Private Equity Valuation Acquisition 76

David Teten

APRIL 28, 2016

Since 2011, companies that originated at Flashpoint have raised more than $300 million and grown to a combined valuation of nearly $1 billion. Sideqik’s end-to-end influencer marketing platform automates the process of identifying the best influencers for brands and distributing campaigns that empower influencers to drive conversions.

Georgia 60

Georgia New York New York City Venture Capital 60

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

This is going to show you the dependency on several critical variables: Cost per lead Conversion rates at each stage of your sales process Level of touch required Then compare this to your expected monetization. Use of the touchless conversion to convert trials to paying customers.

Acquisition 103

Acquisition Cost Customer Entrepreneur 103

Austin Startup

SEPTEMBER 17, 2017

The converse of calculating exactly how you will make the first sale, and then the first 10,000, and ultimately work your way up to 1.6 You want your valuation to keep marching upward; if you took in some seed money with the promised 10X venture return, you’ll hopefully be able to prove that you are proceeding on that trajectory.

Valuation 48

Valuation Forecast Seed Money Business Model 48

VC Cafe

OCTOBER 31, 2022

But even in the seed market the bar could get higher: I wouldn’t be surprised to see valuations drop and for VCs to have rising expectations about the level of traction they expect to see before funding. Two weeks ago in San Francisco, a conversation with tech lawyers from the US and Europe was a confirmation of what I read in the news.

Founder 173

Founder Technical Review Down Round Liquidation Preference 173

Lightspeed Venture Partners

DECEMBER 10, 2012

She was selling her product at farmers markets and had made only $60,000 in sales over the last 12 months as a sole proprietor, although she had recently secured distribution in two local Whole Foods stores. Through further conversation it turned out that the 200 units were sold 6 months ago and the company had not sold anything since.

Covenant 162

Covenant Warrant Southern California Los Angeles 162

Feld Thoughts

APRIL 21, 2016

” Fred and I have had some version of this conversation many times over the past twenty years as we both strongly believe the punch line. If you don’t know DPI, it’s “distributed to paid in capital and answers the question “If I gave you a dollar, how much money did you actually give me back?”

Marketing 70

Marketing Down Round Startup IRR 70

Babbling VC

FEBRUARY 27, 2011

This had me thinking about where we have come in terms of media and information distribution. We're basically in a bubble when it comes to early-stage start-up valuations. Valuations have also gone up in Europe and we always trail the US by some time. Let me lay this out as I see it. Screw being politically correct.

Valuation 67

Valuation Europe Early Stage Distribution 67

Reid Hoffman

DECEMBER 17, 2019

One of the conversations I had with Wences Casares (founder and CEO of Xapo ), during this trip to Patagonia, reinforced my belief in the necessity of venture capital. The industry certainly has many flaws. But to paraphrase Winston Churchill, venture capital is the worst method for financing scaling startups except for all the others.

Venture Capital 36

Venture Capital Cofounder Silicon Valley Government 36

Scott Edward Walker

MAY 15, 2012

What Happens If a Startup is Acquired Prior to the Note’s Conversion to Shares of Preferred Stock? One of the tricky issues that founders must address in the note is what happens if their startup is acquired prior to the note’s conversion (and prior to the note’s maturity date, as discussed below). 3) Premium (Intermediate Approach).

Finance 64

Finance Founder Accredited Investor Preferred Stock 64

Startup Company Lawyer

MARCH 12, 2009

In addition, the conversion of an LLC to a C corp results in additional legal and accounting expense. Thus, the earnings of a C corporation are generally taxed twice: once at the corporate level on the corporation’s taxable income and a second time at the stockholder level on dividends or distributions.

LLC 61

LLC Stock Options Preferred Stock Stock 61

Austin Startup

DECEMBER 20, 2010

However, given the overwhelming number of conversations coming in from all directions all at once, it’s often impossible to focus a lens on the ones that are most relevant for a given time, place, audience and outcome. The source, size and valuation when funding determines how big of a company you’re claiming to build.

Curation 118

Curation Austin Cofounder Ruby 118

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

The reports showcase raw data, analytics, visualizations, and benchmarking statistics on the company from dozens of sources, including team, intellectual property, technology, product, financial, banking, marketing, customer, risk, valuation, and investment information.”. If you have one, please contact me. 7) Negotiate .

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Rob Go

AUGUST 10, 2011

billion valuation. This valuation is for a company with 200 million registered users (although a much smaller # are active) and estimated revenues of around $200 million, equating to a steep multiple of 40 times sales for the microblogging service. This type of positive engagement drives conversion and ultimately advocacy.

Advertising 62

Advertising Valuation Channel Distribution 62

finance.fortune.cnn.com

AUGUST 21, 2012

The information is based on part of a confidential year-end 2011 investment report distributed to investors in a fund-of-funds that made commitments between 1999 and 2001. The percentage is the 12/31/11 portfolio value (including cumulative distributions) divided by the called capital. Join the Conversation. Most Popular.

Naming 49

Naming Term Sheet Private Equity Equity 49

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 26, 2022

We’ll have a fun conversation over the next 40-45 minutes. That’s a valuation number and pricing number. We believed this thing would be able to unlock a multi-product distribution and really strengthen the business mode. I enjoyed this conversation. . Jonathan Siddharth . Welcome, David. Like that happens. .

Partner 132

Partner Cofounder Retention Acquisition 132

Business Plan Blog

OCTOBER 8, 2013

In order to launch a successful business and raise the capital needed to do so, a startup needs to consider several aspects of the business including the management team , the size of the opportunity, the product/service/technology, the market/sales/distribution channels, the competitive environment and several other factors.

Business Plan 67

Business Plan NDA Exit Strategy Valuation 67

Bryce Dot VC

SEPTEMBER 28, 2015

I know it’s an uncomfortable contradiction because every time I talk to Andy Baio about it, the conversation starts with, oh, that name. What that meant is that six companies a year could achieve a hundred million in revenue or a billion in valuation. Then we put a 5X cap on the distributions. I’m not sure what to call it.

Venture Capital 40

Venture Capital Valuation Los Angeles Chicago 40

Reid Hoffman

JULY 27, 2021

During that conversation, we talked about some of my favorite philosophers and how I’ve applied their ideas to my own career. I was still unprepared; I had no idea that I also needed to learn about go-to-market strategy and distribution. Or maybe valuation depends on growth rates or operating margins.

Silicon Valley 69

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Balance Sheet Cofounder 69

Reid Hoffman

JULY 27, 2021

During that conversation, we talked about some of my favorite philosophers and how I’ve applied their ideas to my own career. I was still unprepared; I had no idea that I also needed to learn about go-to-market strategy and distribution. Or maybe valuation depends on growth rates or operating margins.

Silicon Valley 69

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Balance Sheet Cofounder 69