View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 16, 2019

*This post is part of our “pitch deck” series where we dissect the seed stage pitch deck and discuss the ideal flow for a pitch. This can take the form of customer quotes, NPS scores, usage and engagement metrics, negative churn, and referral metrics. You can read the rest of the posts in the series by clicking here *.

Seed Stage 192

Seed Stage Metrics PR Leadership 192

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 3, 2019

Almost 5 years ago we released a resource for founders looking for guidance on their seed stage pitch decks. Because of this, we wanted to have an honest conversation around the structure of the fundraising deck. This year, we are rereleasing a new and improved version of our seed stage pitch deck template.

Seed Stage 159

Seed Stage Metrics Matching Search 159

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

This structure allows for alignment on the front end, and real-time flexibility for performance metrics,” says Samira Salman , a family office investor and advisor. . Flexible VCs have created structures based on other company performance metrics than revenues, such as profits or founder salaries. Flexible VC 102: Variations.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Genuine VC

MAY 29, 2014

It’s been five years now since large VC ‘signaling’ entered the seed stage entrepreneur’s lexicon. It seems as though it’s been talked about ad nauseum in the blogosphere, but we see first-hand as entrepreneurs we’re investing in at NextView Ventures work through building their seed round syndicates, it really is a tough issue.

Seed Stage 166

Seed Stage Syndicate Syndication Valuation 166

View from Seed

JUNE 10, 2020

of teams’ online pitch decks and recorded videos, as well as loved the dozens of second-round video conversations which we had with Founders working on quite compelling startups. When the culmination of an accelerator is a Demo Day show, then that is what teams prepare for and the resulting metrics by which they’re measured.

Cofounder 177

Cofounder Syndicate Syndication Alabama 177

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. Warning – this assumes some basic knowledge of VC performance metrics. Both early- and late-stage startup valuations are currently elevated. Ok, let’s jump in.

Valuation 319

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Distribution Early Stage 319

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

He provided our initial seed funding to launch the website publicly on May 5, 2003. Not long after the product launch we began the initial conversations with VCs for a Series A round. We’ve had a supportive board and encouraging metrics and a helpful climate for our community news notion (now 51 sites in 3 states).

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

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. Warning – this assumes some basic knowledge of VC performance metrics. Both early- and late-stage startup valuations are currently elevated. Ok, let’s jump in.

Valuation 295

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Distribution Early Stage 295

Version One Ventures

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

I don’t remember the exact conversation, but it went something like this: Me: I didn’t find three companies because my goal was to build a model that identifies more companies in a scalable way. And lastly, most business metrics, which are rich in information, are kept private (and this leads to unavailable data).

Seed Stage 127

Seed Stage Later Stage Algorithm API 127

Mucker Lab

AUGUST 9, 2023

A recap of the conversation is listed below, as well as the full webinar recording. Vetting the Shows: Ensure the podcasts have good metrics and are worth the investment of time. If you are the founder of a seed-stage company interested in learning more about Mucker funding, apply to MuckerLab and/or contact us.

SEO 78

SEO PR Reputation Engineer 78

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. Warning – this assumes some basic knowledge of VC performance metrics. Both early- and late-stage startup valuations are currently elevated. Ok, let’s jump in.

Valuation 156

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Distribution Early Stage 156

Austin Startup

MAY 9, 2018

Growth is the only metric that matters to a VC, and it is impossible to do this if no one can look at the cat, so to speak. That time usually happens when you’re ready to go to market (seed stage) or getting traction and want to scale (A round investing). Originally published at www.sputnikatx.com.

Non-Compete 55

Non-Compete Stealth Seed Stage Metrics 55

Genuine VC

AUGUST 3, 2010

During the seed stage where Micro VCs invest, there are three primary diligence factors: Team and individuals – The information discovery here involves conversations with former coworkers, cofounders, partners, investors, and customers. Quicker diligence is not lesser diligence at the seed stage for Micro VCs. ?

Seed Stage 123

Seed Stage Cofounder Metrics Forecast 123

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 24, 2009

So I generally feel right at home in these conversations. Despite all the energy invested in talking to authors about the size of their platform, very few gatekeepers have a rigorous set of metrics for measuring it. In other words, they are facing conditions of extreme uncertainty, just like startups. Is that a lot?

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Distribution 113

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

I recently got together with Aaron Shechet and an early stage startup to discuss the direction the company might want to take. It was a great conversation and I thought it would be a good idea to do some visible networking with Aaron to get to know him better. Any thoughts on my recent post Startup Metrics ? That's great.

Los Angeles 150

Los Angeles Southern California Startup Early Stage 150

Rob Go

JULY 17, 2014

NextView Ventures II is $40M, twice the size of our first fund, and we continue to be exclusively focused on seed-stage companies pursuing internet-enabled innovation. We’ve often explained to entrepreneurs that the second fund of a venture firm is very much like the series A for an early stage company.

Seed Stage 69

Seed Stage Early Stage Due Diligence Liquidity Event 69

Mucker Lab

APRIL 6, 2023

Hila Qu joined Mucker’s Tony Yang for an Ask-Me-Anything (AMA) conversation about Product-Led Growth (PLG) for Startups to kickoff the 2023 Mucker Growth Series. The success of the foundation is can you get to the first PLG conversion and actually have a user or prospective customer without talking to sales? That’s the success.

Product 78

Product CTO Hire Fractional CTO Startup 78

Hearpreneur

MAY 4, 2019

Conversely, the integrated mindsets, mechanics, and methodologies of entrepreneurship and venture capital are designed and calibrated to discover new customer needs and devise innovative and new-to-the-world solutions. The MBA-driven methodology they use is about taking something big and making it bigger. It is literally at war with growth.

Cofounder 66

Cofounder Founder Entrepreneur Venture Capital 66

Rob Go

NOVEMBER 15, 2016

I’ve had a couple conversations with other investors recently around what a seed stage company needs to achieve to raise a series A. Also, in a market where a bunch of high-flyers are crumbling, investors are more deliberate and less enamored by pure top line metrics.

Product 28

Product Seed Stage Seed Money Metrics 28

ithacaVC

APRIL 5, 2011

Additionally, at the seed stage, investors and the company might want to issue the investors convertible debt to avoid the question of valuation. The company is at the pre-seed stage, and the outside investment would qualify the company for an additional grant from a government source (matching funds).

Common Stock 45

Common Stock Stock Cap Table Preferred Stock 45

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2010

It’s a conversation that creeps up from time-to-time. This person had been introduced to me several times by angels and I was told that I’d be the perfect seed investor. Mostly by early stage investors talking about getting smaller exits. This post was prompted by an email exchange I had with a young entrepreneur.

Early Stage 360

Early Stage Startup Venture Capital Seed Stage 360

Gust

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Entrepreneurs and investors who have spent any time dealing with convertible debt seed financing transactions are likely to have encountered the subject of valuation caps. Valuation caps can come into play in settings other than seed-stage convertible note financing rounds.

Valuation 98

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Merger Vesting 98

Austin Startup

MAY 19, 2018

This one comes from personal experience, months into conversations and after reference checks (which went well) one particular VC decided he didn’t have commitment to the space. The bottom line is that being a seed stage founder is mostly a very thankless job. I fall into the latter category.

Founder 75

Founder Early Stage Software Review Deal Flow 75

Austin Startup

JANUARY 2, 2019

Doesn’t matter if you’re a solo creator, a seed-stage startup, a medium-sized company, or a corporation. A Repeatable Way” = Actions + Metrics Do you have daily / weekly / monthly metrics you want to hit? Goals change, and your metrics change. But you have to have metrics for creating content. Life happens.

Metrics 48

Metrics Seed Stage Acquisition Austin 48

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

The 2013 Joah didn’t realize he was about to run into the buzzsaw that was being black while fundraising in 2014 and 2015, two of the best years for a seed-stage startup to raise funds in Silicon Valley. both as an input and as a desired outcome?—?seems startups with billion-dollar valuations) in recent years.

Silicon Valley 48

Silicon Valley Technical Review Venture Capital San Francisco 48

View from Seed

MARCH 10, 2015

NVV: What key metrics did you track to make sure you were heading in the right direction? In addition to the standard daily and monthly active users tracking, pages per session and time in the app were both huge metrics for us. But in general, startups need to be great about having direct customer conversations.

Mobile 120

Mobile San Francisco Curation Seed Stage 120

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

I still think it’s best to take money from Dave when you’re also partnered with a more focused, hands-on seed-stage VC who brings different things to the table – like more ability to write larger checks in a downturn (for one) or solving a deep crisis that involves super hands-on involvement. So I thought, WTF?

Valuation 292

Valuation Deal Flow Lead Investor Cofounder 292

Reid Hoffman

AUGUST 6, 2020

As the Greylock team has learned after decades of partnering with early-stage founders, the best approach is establishing a core set of fundamental questions that can be tailored to each individual company, rather than looking at a rigid set of metrics. Below are some of the key highlights from the conversation.

Technical Review 69

Technical Review Seed Stage Software Review Early Stage 69

steveblank.com

JULY 8, 2011

signup, upgrade, trial pricing Zuora – online subscription management FeeFighters – find the cheapest credit card processors HealPay – Collections made easy Customer Support Tender – support, knowledgebase tool for your site GetSatisfaction - conversations between companies / customers.

Software Review 110

Software Review Startup Silicon Valley Analytics 110

www.vccafe.com

MARCH 11, 2013

Startup Metrics for Pirates â?? SaaS Metrics Tutorial â?? GetSatisfaction - conversations between companies / customers. Seed Stage Valuation Guide. Startup Foundry tools list. Small Business tools list. Lean Startup Circle â?? Google Group for startup advice. SEO and Analytics Tutorials. worth reading as well.

Software Review 53

Software Review Technical Review Startup 53