SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

I was asked by a reader how much equity he should give out to early employees and to service providers in a very early stage startup. Founders are likely not paid for a long time and have a sizeable equity percentage for early risk and having the concept. Same Value for Sweat Equity as Investment Dollars? and we have 11.1%

Early Stage 391

Early Stage Equity CTO Hire Sweat Equity 391

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2023

Many entrepreneurs are convinced that banks are not worth the effort for startups, especially early-stage ones that still don’t have a revenue stream, or collateral to back up their financing needs. Bankers do not contribute equity. The short answer is that some banks will help, if you do your homework. Money from other sources.

Equity 303

Equity Silicon Valley Finance Early Stage 303

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2019

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity. Use crowd funding.

Intellectual Property 219

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 219

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

So you’re interested in raising capital from a Revenue-Based Investor VC. A new wave of Revenue-Based Investors (“RBI”) are emerging. This structure offers some of the benefits of traditional equity VC, without some of the negatives of equity VC. Rational burn profile, up to 50% of revenue at close, scaling down.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2020

Things will cost more than you expect. Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. Cash flow out equates to burn rate, and the runway depends on your reserves.

Burn Rate 310

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Salary Angel Investor 310

The Startup Magazine

MARCH 8, 2024

When considering debt options, comparing interest rates, repayment terms, and fees from multiple lenders is crucial to finding the most cost-effective solution. Utilize Debt for Strategic Investments Use debt to invest in revenue-generating assets that generate a positive return on investment for your business.

Finance 122

Finance Technical Review Metrics .Net 122

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

Short-term earnings per share may be low, even as revenues and cash burned are high. That means that many companies are now forgoing the rush to go public (IPO), in favor of major equity investments from specialized venture capital funds, such as Japan’s SoftBank. These tolerate negative cash flows for growth.

Software Review 355

Software Review Algorithm Global IPO 355

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2014

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity. Use crowd funding.

Entrepreneur 283

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 283

VC Cafe

MARCH 1, 2024

Small fine-tuned models as an alternative to giant generic ones – when finely tuned with appropriate data, smaller, specialised LLMs can yield comparable results at a fraction of the cost. Technological Convergence – The global equity market value associated with disruptive innovation could increase to 60% by 2030.

Artificial Inteligence 176

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Software Review Generative AI 176

David Teten

MARCH 14, 2018

. – Build out low-cost force multipliers such as scouts , Advisors, Entrepreneurs in Residence, Venture Partners, and so on. Sophisticated VC and private equity funds have a wide array of options for leveraging outside operating executives. All of the strategies above have very modest fixed cost.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Cofounder 60

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

More and more startups are pursuing Revenue-Based VCs , but “RBI” doesn’t fit everyone. From traditional equity VC, Flexible VC borrows the option to pursue and reap the rewards of an outsized exit. Flexible VC 101: Equity Meets Revenue Share. Equity Ownership. Yes, typically preferred equity. Example VC.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

ReadWriteStart

DECEMBER 15, 2022

Client work serves as an additional source of revenue to form new startups. This outside work provides a valuable source of revenue able to be used to fund operations. Over time, this revenue reduces the dependency on outside venture capital sources. It also provides critical domain experience in a variety of business sectors.

Incubator 188

Incubator Startup Software Developers Software Development 188

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

A new wave of Revenue-Based Investors are emerging who are using creative investing structures with some of the upside of traditional VC, but some of the downside protection of debt. I’ve been a traditional equity VC for 8 years, and I’m now researching new business models in venture capital. So what is Revenue Based Investing?

Revenue 60

Revenue Term Sheet Founder Technical Review 60

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity. Use crowd funding.

Intellectual Property 309

Intellectual Property Technical Review Venture Capital Startup 309

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2018

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity. Join a startup incubator.

Intellectual Property 134

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 134

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 28, 2011

While Jane was building SayAhh’s revenue projections , Dick focused his attention on building the expense side of the projections. It is simple in that it forecasts how much cash will be coming in the door (revenues + equity financing + debt financing) and then subtracts from that amount how much cash is expected to be going out the door.

Revenue 127

Revenue Balance Sheet Forecast Software Review 127

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 29, 2018

Things will cost more than you expect. Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. Cash flow out equates to burn rate, and the runway depends on your reserves.

Burn Rate 223

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 223

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 17, 2020

an entrepreneur should have about 6 months worth of fixed costs on hand at the beginning. Additionally, take time to plan your costs and don’t underestimate expenses – they will likely increase as your business grows. For starters, rising debt-to-equity ratio. office space, legal fees, payroll, etc.)

Finance 217

Finance Forecast Balance Sheet Angel Investor 217

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

The primary source of your funds should be your paying customers, i.e., your business should generate enough revenues and profits to fund the growth and expansion. It is going to cost a lot of money just to get the initial batch of products to test the market and would definitely require external funding. Sources of Funding.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2015

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity. Join a startup incubator.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 120

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

Private equity and venture capital investors are copying our sisters in the hedge fund and mutual fund world: we’re trying to automate more of our job. High-frequency trading, algorithmic by its nature, is estimated to account for at least 50% of US equity markets trading volume. . But we’re doing it slowly.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 4, 2023

In a perfect world, small businesses would have an endless stream of revenue coming in and there wouldn’t be need to worry about financing. Sometimes businesses have to get creative when it comes to their small business financing, especially when revenue is low. However, we all know that’s not the case.

Finance 109

Finance Revenue Small Business Bootstrapping 109

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 21, 2012

The cost of giving up more equity early is often more than offset by the increased flexibility to recover from mistakes. Your startup will require more money than you expect, and the cost of going back to the well is very high. Pay people with equity or future revenue. Pay people with equity or future revenue.

Burn Rate 232

Burn Rate Startup Salary Equity 232

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2014

Things will cost more than you expect. Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. Cashflow out equates to burn rate, and the runway depends on your reserves.

Burn Rate 262

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Entrepreneur Salary 262

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2023

Yet every business requires revenue and volumes, as certainly as it requires a product to sell. Projecting financials is a natural extension of the homework every entrepreneur needs to do on customer opportunity size, product costs, pricing, competition and customer value. Doubling revenue each year is a good target.

Forecast 290

Forecast Burn Rate Widget Business Plan 290

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2023

The average amount per startup has been $23,000, usually in the form of a convertible loan, rather than an equity investment. The vehicle of choice is most often a convertible note, which is really a loan with a specified duration and interest, with an option to convert it to equity when professional investors come in later.

Sweat Equity 274

Sweat Equity Elevator Pitch Startup Equity 274

Feld Thoughts

JULY 9, 2019

We ended up talking about using Gross Profit, instead of Revenue, to do valuation analysis. Since we invest across a number of different themes, we’ve had to deal with very different revenue and gross margin profiles since the beginning, whether we realized it or not. We’ve been doing this for a long time at Foundry Group.

Revenue 179

Revenue Valuation .Net IPO 179

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

So if your costs are $500,000 per month and you have $350,000 per month in revenue then your net burn (500-350) is equal to $150,000. But those of us with longer memories remember that the revenue line can move south very quickly when the market overall turns south. Net burn is the amount of money you are losing per month.

Burn Rate 383

Burn Rate Balance Sheet .Net Valuation 383

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 28, 2011

The cost of giving up more equity early is often more than offset by the increased flexibility to recover from mistakes. Your startup will require more money than you expect, and the cost of going back to the well is very high. Pay people with equity or future revenue. Pay people with equity or future revenue.

Burn Rate 231

Burn Rate Startup Salary Equity 231

ConversionXL

JANUARY 18, 2022

It partners with sales to close more revenue, informs product teams to deliver better products, and in some cases, co-owns demand generation activities with marketing teams. Founder Nathan Barry launched in 2013 to help creators sell their books and courses but failed to meet revenue goals and eventually stalled.

Marketing 110

Marketing Product Audience Equity 110

Up and Running

DECEMBER 16, 2021

In order to avoid formal valuation report costs, shareholders utilize benchmarks of the industry and rules of thumb to estimate the ballpark values of their interests. It enables shareholders to estimate the rough value of their business quickly and cost-effectively. Where Gross Profit = Net Sales – Cost of Goods Sold.

Valuation 86

Valuation .Net Metrics Balance Sheet 86

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2020

It’s more possible to bootstrap today than a few years ago, as the cost of entry continues to go down. With one of the many new tools , and a dose of sweat equity, you can create a website for almost nothing -- and you are on your way to success with ecommerce, your latest invention or personal services.

Hockey Stick 423

Hockey Stick Bootstrapping Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 423

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 1, 2023

During such times a firm should take measures that have historically been thought to safeguard it, such as cutting costs, lowering goals, and keeping an eye on cash flow to weather the impending storm. If possible, settle debts before being subject to inflationary costs for your business. Thanks to Abdul Saboor, The Stock Dork ! #2-

Entrepreneur 92

Entrepreneur Software Review Technical Review Revenue 92

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2012

Just don’t quit your day job before your new company is producing revenue. A startup incubator is a company, university, or other organization which provides resources for equity to nurture young companies, helping them to survive and grow during the startup period when they are most vulnerable. Bartering services for equity.

Technical Review 257

Technical Review Bootstrapping Venture Capital Incubator 257

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

With extremely limited resources and time, one wrong step could cost you 6-9 months of runway. The point here is not to do a granular forecast of revenue or number of users/customers, but to put a stake in the ground so investors understand what you believe is achievable with X amount of resources given Y timeframe.

Part-Time VPE 195

Part-Time VPE Seed Stage CTO Hire Forecast 195

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

Things will cost more than you expect. Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. Cash flow out equates to burn rate, and the runway depends on your reserves.

Burn Rate 120

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 120

The Startup Magazine

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

Are there new revenue streams you can tap into? Simultaneously, we conducted a thorough operational review to identify inefficiencies and areas for cost reduction. The strategic pivot to new market segments opened up additional revenue streams, and the operational overhaul significantly improved profit margins.

Technical Review 133

Technical Review Due Diligence Bankruptcy Intellectual Property 133