Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

The A round was done in February 2000 (end of the bull market) and my B round was done in April 2001 (bear market). As a result I had to do a down round. Down rounds are psychologically really difficult on companies and can make it harder to do later rounds. I eventually needed more money.

Venture Capital 282

Venture Capital Term Sheet Valuation Stock Options 282

NZ Entrepreneur

SEPTEMBER 16, 2020

No one can predict the future and it’s especially true in the startup world. The statistics show that even though most founders bet their time and resources that their startups will be the best in the world, 90% of those new startups won’t be in operation in 10-15 years. Cost of goods sold (COGS). Timing of sales.

Startup 69

Startup Sales Cycle Down Round Revenue 69

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

New investors hate down rounds. For others it feels like a two-speed economy, where rules apply to hot tech startups that don’t apply elsewhere. When your competition does irrational things to grow fueled by low-cost capital it makes it harder for you to compete by playing by the conventional rules.

Saudi Arabia 309

Saudi Arabia Valuation IPO Technical Review 309

Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2023

Some businesses require very little capital and the founder can self-finance the enterprise and retain 100% of its ownership and control from ignition through liquidity event (startup through sale). And even with the significant cost of credit card debt, many entrepreneurs aggressively use existing cards to finance a startup.

Private Equity 118

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 118

VC Cafe

OCTOBER 31, 2022

It’s a tough time for a lot of startup founders right now. Many companies are now having to resort to tough measures in order to stay afloat, including layoffs, down rounds and tough terms from current investors. The pressure to protect portfolio startups seen as potential fund returners will be profound.

Founder 173

Founder Technical Review Down Round Liquidation Preference 173

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 20, 2016

At least ten online portals are already gearing up to help regular people buy startup equity, without abiding by accredited investor rules. Have you ever wondered what professional startup investors think about all this? These groups are now largely run by volunteers at no cost to entrepreneurs. Risk is increased.

Angel Groups 136

Angel Groups Accredited Investor Equity Due Diligence 136

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

And now I have to explain to team that they’re taking more dilution than they expected if we do a down round. A down round? There are a million ways to do quick, easy, low-cost rounds with prices. So if the next round is higher they have a much lower cost of ownership than the next investors anyways.

Venture Capital 417

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet 417

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 8, 2016

Much has changed in the past four months of the technology startup world and how outsiders value the business. The smartest companies in the market that I know are working aggressively to lower burn rates through pragmatic cost cutting knowing that the next fund-raising cycle may be unpleasant. Down rounds are corrosive.

Burn Rate 150

Burn Rate Cap Table Balance Sheet Dilution 150

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 26, 2022

The past year was a wild ride for startups and founders, giving a whole new meaning to the ”rollercoaster” aspect of being an entrepreneur. A combination of competition for top talent and an effort to bring employees back to the office drove startups in Israel to throw extravagant parties and all-inclusive retreats abroad.

Founder 187

Founder Startup Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 187

For Entrepreneurs

APRIL 7, 2011

Introduction This post aims to help startup CEOs optimize their funding strategy by examining how investors value startups, and explaining how to avoid the common cash management pitfalls. Note: The concepts in this post will likely be obvious to experienced CEOs and entrepreneurs.

Finance 167

Finance Startup Cost Entrepreneur 167

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 2, 2009

For those of you who have been following the discussion, a Lean Startup is Eric Ries ’s description of the intersection of Customer Development , Agile Development and if available, open platforms and open source. Over its lifetime a Lean Startup may spend less money than a traditional startup. Lets see why.

Lean 250

Lean Silicon Valley Startup RSS 250

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

A founder asked me what makes a $2M round “pre-seed”? especially if the startup already has a product and revenue? And why do we still sometimes hear about pre-seed rounds that look more like a series A in pricing and size? Defining the pre-seed round It’s futile to look for ‘one true’ definition.

Valuation 186

Valuation Software Review Generative AI Technical Review 186

Lightspeed Venture Partners

OCTOBER 7, 2012

As he said, “Great innovations solve problems or reduce costs. As Cuban pointed out, this is a “down round” Zomm is seeking $2M for 10% of the company, implying an $18M pre money valuation today. Kevin questioned the use case since bowls are ubiquitous. The company still had $2M in inventory on the books.

Technical Review 110

Technical Review Technical Cofounder Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 110

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 4, 2016

” There are a lot of data points that one can observer to get a sense of the venture capital markets – both LP fundings into venture and VC financings of startups. Let’s start with the money slide: 10 years ago there was about the same money pouring into VC as found its way into startups but in the past two years 2.5

LP 150

LP Valuation Burn Rate Pre-Money Valuation 150

Berkonomics

JUNE 8, 2017

Some businesses require very little capital and the founder can self-finance the enterprise and retain 100% of its ownership and control from ignition through liquidity event (startup through sale). And even with the significant cost of credit card debt, many entrepreneurs aggressively use existing cards to finance a startup.

Private Equity 106

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 106

Growthink Blog

MAY 23, 2011

Technical progress and market traction are much slower and cost a lot more than anticipated. A " black swan " investor appears out of the blue and backs the company - less impressed by the technology than by the talent, desire, and grit of the entrepreneur. There are a lot of dark, hard days.

Angel Investor 112

Angel Investor Venture Capital Sweat Equity Cram Down 112

Tim Keane

SEPTEMBER 17, 2009

Startups and angels: Along the way to success.  Relatively late stage pharma ventures, just to cite one example, tend to be doing second and third rounds at depressed values.  If the venture with these characteristics is worth investing in, the business is going to take longer and cost more to get to its milestone.

Wisconsin 60

Wisconsin Valuation Angel Investor Startup 60

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

Want to start a startup? A typical startup goes throughseveral rounds of funding, and at each round you want to take justenough money to reach the speed where you can shift into the nextgear. Few startups get it quite right. A lot of startups that end upgoing public didnt seem likely to at first.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

Industry change allows the entry of newer players at earlier stages – It doesn’t take as much money to launch a startup anymore. So in the past we needed VC to really get a startup going. If you invest it in startups you’re a VC professional money manager. We all know that. I had two kids and a rental house.

Liquidity Event 308

Liquidity Event Silicon Valley Seed Stage Finance 308

Startup Company Lawyer

MARCH 14, 2010

In addition, I think that a “peace treaty&# between early-stage investors and startup companies on standard terms (at least at a term sheet level) is a step in the right direction. Almost all startup companies don’t declare dividends, so deletion of a dividend preference is irrelevant to an investor. Dividend preference.

Finance 70

Finance Software Review Term Sheet Liquidation Preference 70

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

” “Mark has a vested interest in talking down valuations of startups.” Most prefer not to say this publicly for two reasons: 1) they have an entire portfolio of startups, many of whom are raising capital and 2) they prefer not to be attacked publicly or seem “anti entrepreneur.” goes into a startup.

Valuation 150

Valuation Down Round Startup Later Stage 150

Berkonomics

JANUARY 20, 2010

Some businesses require very little capital and the founder is able to self-finance the enterprise and retain 100% of its ownership and control from ignition through liquidity event (startup through sale). And even with the significant cost of credit card debt, many entrepreneurs aggressively use existing cards to finance a startup.

Private Equity 69

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 69

VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

The 2022 Founders Factories report by DealRoom and Accel shines a spotlight on the startup clusters that produced most unicorns across Europe and Israel, and then tracks the alumni of those unicorns to test where the talent goes to found their next companies. London and Tel Aviv are home to the most founder nurturing unicorn startups.

Europe 97

Europe Balance Sheet Valuation 97

VC Cafe

JANUARY 29, 2024

2023 was a rough year for Venture Capital and for startups, and it might get even worse. I believe there are a lot of problems need solving, my outlook is longer term and I invest in new companies (most of the startups that Remagine Ventures II will invest in don’t yet exist). In many ways, Edward is right.

Generative AI 171

Generative AI Global Venture Capital Valuation 171

Scalable Startup

OCTOBER 26, 2011

The Second Round, or “B Round”, or “Follow On” round can be the achilles heel of a startup. No doubt the first round of external funding for a startup is usually critical to a startup as it can be the difference between continuing your startup or shutting it down.

Mezzanine 22

Mezzanine Due Diligence IPO Angel Investor 22

abovethecrowd.com

APRIL 20, 2016

In February of last year, Fortune magazine writers Erin Griffith and Dan Primack declared 2015 “ The Age of the Unicorns ” noting — “Fortune counts more than 80 startups that have been valued at $1 billion or more by venture capitalists.” Next came Rolfe Winkler’s deep dive “ Highly Valued Startup Zenefits Runs Into Turbulence. ”

IPO 40

IPO Term Sheet Silicon Valley Valuation 40

Scalable Startup

FEBRUARY 1, 2013

The Future of Startups 2013-2017, beginning of a series. Marc Andreesen gave a great interview about a year agi about “The Future of the Enterprise” and where the next startups will be playing – Hadoop, Big Data, BYOD, etc. Some of these next big startups are in L.A., You mean startups? I don’t know.

Software Review 22

Software Review Startup Venture Capital Stock 22

Altgate

MARCH 8, 2009

I say ecosystem as opposed to industry because it is not just the VC funds themselves that are imploding, instead the collapse includes entrepreneurs and startups that were funded by VCs, angel investors, service providers like lawyers, bankers and accountants as well as limited partner investors in VC funds. Bookmark the permalink.

Later Stage 34

Later Stage Early Stage Venture Capital Portfolio 34

Reid Hoffman

JUNE 8, 2021

As I’m sure most would agree, Airbnb is one of the most iconic startups to have been formed in the world. The burden [should] just be that we care; that if we learn something, we improve it, and that we don’t only use single output metrics and its growth at all costs. We’ve kind of designed the kind of growth that we want.

Silicon Valley 69

Silicon Valley Hosting Rhode Island Design 69

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2016

The funding environment for tech startups is an ever shifting ground as we go through predictable shifts that go hand-in-hand with the slowing of the overall market. In other words, it isn’t that VCs suddenly got smart, it’s that the costs of starting a company went down dramatically. Boom in Number of Startups.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Silicon Valley Burn Rate LP 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2016

Investors had grown too used to the idea that any deal you funded would get marked up to a higher valuation in the next round and that’s clearly not always true. We have a very experienced management team and can serve large, enterprise accounts, who will surely scrutinize balance sheets before committing important projects to other startups.

Balance Sheet 150

Balance Sheet Burn Rate Valuation Forecast 150

Reid Hoffman

JUNE 8, 2021

As I’m sure most would agree, Airbnb is one of the most iconic startups to have been formed in the world. The burden [should] just be that we care; that if we learn something, we improve it, and that we don’t only use single output metrics and its growth at all costs. We’ve kind of designed the kind of growth that we want.

Silicon Valley 36

Silicon Valley Hosting Rhode Island Design 36

www.quora.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Type to Add and Search Questions; Search Topics and People Startups Startup Compensation Entrepreneurship Compensation Stock Options Major Internet Companies Silicon Valley Why is there such a large founder to early employee equity drop-off? Many startups these days are first-time entrepreneurs. is lowered. After that various i.

Equity 40

Equity Employee Founder Cofounder 40

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 18, 2015

“Trade in an asset at a price that strongly deviates from an asset’s intrinsic value” The arguments against that, “This time the startups have real revenues!” In 2014 3 out of 12 exits were occurred at a lower valuation than the previous round. 25% “down rounds? ” ring hollow.

IPO 150

IPO Venture Capital LP SEC 150