View from Seed

MAY 19, 2015

To me, the most exciting (and most perilous) times in a company’s lifecycle are the early first stages when it is just getting off the ground. At the seed stage, the founder’s or co-founders’ role in the company is essential and therefore carries a great deal of risk for missteps. Taciturnity.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Liquidity Event Cofounder Startup 120

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2015

*. If you are a 20-something tech entrepreneur you could be forgiven for thinking that seed-stage investors, Angellist Syndicates and widely available angel money always existed. I was out to raise my first seed money in my second startup of $500,000. Some quick highlights include: The Role of a Seed Stage VC.

Seed Stage 150

Seed Stage Silicon Valley Syndicate Syndication 150

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 7, 2016

A Startup Lab invests guidance, strategy, and takes equity in a carefully selected collection of early and seed stage startups. Depending on what a startup needs, the cost and equity share will vary — ranging from a full scope of projections, a business plan, and modeling, to a simple consulting partnership.

Seed Stage 100

Seed Stage Silicon Valley Incubator Asia 100

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

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. So, I would suggest that you bootstrap during the inception stage. ? Seed stage. Both of which are expensive and time-consuming.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

View from Seed

AUGUST 12, 2015

The game plan is then to show accelerating user growth across a variety of user segments and understandable/declining acquisition costs. The post The Market Size Fallacy for Seed-Stage Startups appeared first on NextView Ventures. At some point, investors may start to change their mind about the market size.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Marketing Angel Investor Term Sheet 120

View from Seed

AUGUST 12, 2015

The game plan is then to show accelerating user growth across a variety of user segments and understandable/declining acquisition costs. The post The Market Size Fallacy for Seed-Stage Startups appeared first on The View From Seed. At some point, investors may start to change their mind about the market size.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Marketing Angel Investor Term Sheet 120

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 20, 2019

Specifically, there are five challenges that emerging business typically put on the backburner between funding rounds: Seed to Series A: Customer Testing. Hypotheses should be tested extensively and disproven, which is where customer testing plays a central role for seed-stage startups.

Technical Cofounder 113

Technical Cofounder Burn Rate Seed Stage Cofounder 113

View from Seed

MARCH 8, 2016

Jesse recently sat down with NextView (I assume he was sitting anyway — we spoke on the phone) to talk seed-stage company branding, building a startup identity, and some of the most common mistakes founders make when establishing a name for their companies. If the product is good, people will find it.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Conversion Startup PR 120

Mucker Lab

OCTOBER 10, 2023

However, for early-stage startups with limited resources, a fractional CRO (Chief Revenue Officer) can be a cost-effective option. While this approach may incur higher costs initially, it lays a robust foundation for an effective sales team, ensuring the startup's growth and success in the long run.

Early Stage 78

Early Stage Sales Developer Development Team Review 78

View from Seed

JANUARY 13, 2021

I see YC as Tiger Woods in his prime, and all the rest of the seed funds are playing to be Phil Mickelson. They invest at a lower cost basis than almost all seed VC’s, have the biggest portfolio out of all of us, and have the most enviable track record of success. Consider this a hat tip. YC has just been extraordinary.

Dilution 399

Dilution Later Stage Portfolio Technical Review 399

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Potential return on investment cannot be calculated without a clear understanding and evidence of actual costs, revenue flows, and margins. They are not interested in research and development, or funding at the idea stage. All internal teams need to have relevant skills and experience. Solution development undefined or incomplete.

Due Diligence 271

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Preferred Stock 271

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2015

Thus it behooves every entrepreneur to optimize their investment strategies early, based on time and dollar costs, as well as odds of success. Weigh the cost of every pitch against the potential return. For new entrepreneurs looking for seed-stage help, concentrate on investors who know you or organizations with a vested interest.

Cost 120

Cost Angel Groups Due Diligence Silicon Valley 120

Genuine VC

SEPTEMBER 7, 2010

The famed business strategist Michael Porter described a set of successful general strategies which firms employ to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage: differentiation strategy and cost leadership strategy for those firms with a broad market scope, and a segmentation strategy for those with a narrow market scope.

Seed Stage 191

Seed Stage Belgium Differentiation LP 191

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

It can be lower cost and can either buy more time or accelerate growth. It’s generally got a lower cost compared to equity capital and can help support growth. NVV: Let’s talk about the seed stage specifically. But the costs are definitely there. What is it, and how should founders think about it?

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

View from Seed

OCTOBER 15, 2014

Over the summer, based on feedback from our portfolio and the broader startup community, NextView created pre-formatted board deck templates for seed-stage startups — part of our Growth Guides series. As Rob Go wrote , board decks and board meetings can waste loads of time at the seed stage.

Seed Stage 331

Seed Stage Cap Table Metrics Burn Rate 331

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

I’m often surprised by how much effort seed stage teams put into building an early product and how little credit that receives from investors. And the ultimate uncertainties for a seed stage company are around talent and customer demand. But the way the market values this early work can vary greatly.

Seed Stage 180

Seed Stage Bootstrapping Demand Early Stage 180

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 16, 2020

We invest at the seed stage, and so product/market fit is always a significant risk. In some cases, a category is quite crowded with low switching costs, so creating something that really resonates with the market is super hard. But some companies present greater PMF risk than others for various reasons.

Seed Stage 254

Seed Stage Early Stage Founder Portfolio 254

Austin Startup

MAY 8, 2018

Every startup lawyer knows stories of startups that treated someone as a contractor in order to keep costs low, then the relationship went south, and the person ended up filing complaints and getting the startup into hot water. The legal and tax requirements for engaging (and terminating) contractors v. employees are also very different.

Employee 48

Employee Seed Stage Startup Equity 48

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 11, 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. Now it’s time to set the stage with the early traction you have. Seed stage VCs are realistic about how much traction a very raw company might have.

Seed Stage 149

Seed Stage B2B Seed Capital Revenue 149

K9 Ventures

JUNE 5, 2015

Almost two years ago, in a private/closed meeting with K9 Ventures’ LPs only, I claimed that: What was being referred to in the press as the “Series A Crunch” was not because fewer Series A deals were being done, but because there were too many Seed deals being done. Seed stage was super tough. Implications for Founders.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation 48

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

As per the chart above, I highly recommend keeping a founder dominated board at the seed stage. Whether the seed investor gets a permanent seat or a temporary seat will largely depend on: The size check they wrote (If it’s a $1.5m —?just having a sparring partner with a vested interest in your success can be useful.

Venture Capital 236

Venture Capital Startup Angel Investor Silicon Valley 236

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2020

Potential return on investment cannot be calculated without a clear understanding and evidence of actual costs, revenue flows, and margins. They are not interested in research and development, or funding at the idea stage. All internal teams need to have relevant skills and experience. Solution development undefined or incomplete.

Due Diligence 308

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Preferred Stock Seed Stage 308

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

Seed-stage compatible: Like traditional equity VC investors, Flexible VCs accomodate early-stage investment risk within their portfolios better than a traditional RBI funder. That said, nothing is cost-free. More complex cost of capital calculation. Transaction costs. Legal costs typically $5K-$50K .

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Hippoland

MARCH 30, 2018

The fundraising landscape in 2018 for pre-seed and seed-stage companies has changed a lot even in just the first few months of this year. B) Operations costs more. So, even if in the net you want to raise say $5m, you’re probably looking at raising $10-$15m to cover your other costs.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Syndicate Syndication Convertible Security 48

Hippoland

MARCH 30, 2018

The fundraising landscape in 2018 for pre-seed and seed-stage companies has changed a lot even in just the first few months of this year. B) Operations costs more. So, even if in the net you want to raise say $5m, you’re probably looking at raising $10-$15m to cover your other costs.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Syndicate Syndication Convertible Security 48

Haystack

JANUARY 12, 2020

For those following this blog and the seed market over the past decade, you may have noticed that every year, we see increases across the board — more investors, newer funds, and funds that get larger. Much has been written about the fact that traditional seed stage funds have grown in size and dollars under management.

Seed Stage 106

Seed Stage Cram Down Early Stage Cofounder 106

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

He acknowledged the importance of the growing seed fund movement in creating a new wave of cost-effective innovation. So angel and seed stage investors’ returns will be dependent on good times continuing or on the ability of their portfolio companies to get financed. Fred Wilson wrote a great piece on this.

LP 311

LP Technical Review Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

The rise of “micro VCs” or seed-stage funds. Lower costs to start a business (95% reduction), many more companies created & funded by angels / seed. There has been much discussion in the past few years of the changing structure of the venture capital industry. On the surface the narratives have been.

Technical Review 398

Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 398

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2011

If you are new to the entrepreneurial world of startups, you are likely confused by the terminology of seed-stage, lean startups, micro-VCs, and Super Angels. Seed-stage means promising companies that don’t yet have a revenue stream, and may not yet have a proof of concept. Super Angels. Business accelerator.

Early Stage 231

Early Stage Seed Stage Angel Investor Silicon Valley 231

View from Seed

OCTOBER 21, 2014

As the seed-stage startup fundraise process has received more transparency in recent years, ranging from published advice on how to raise seed capital to increased availability through AngelList, Funders Club, and various accelerator programs, I’ve noticed another trend emerging.

Valuation 336

Valuation Founder Seed Stage Angel Investor 336

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2012

If you are new to the entrepreneurial world of startups, you are likely confused by the terminology of seed-stage, lean startups, micro-VCs, and Super Angels. Seed-stage means promising companies that don’t yet have a revenue stream, and may not yet have a proof of concept. Super Angels. Business accelerator.

Early Stage 253

Early Stage Finance Seed Stage Entrepreneur 253

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

They chose the name First Round Capital because they thought capital would be deployed most efficiently at smaller seed stage rounds considering the cost to build an internet business had come down drastically. In 2008 they raised a much larger fund $132.5 million and opened another office in San Francisco. Investing Strategy.

Pre-Money Valuation 284

Pre-Money Valuation Technical Review Cofounder Cram Down 284

Hunter Walker

JULY 22, 2014

Are there areas of variable cost or support that need to be scaled alongside the growth? In most cases we try to shift focus to a Top Down Forecasting model as it’s more milestone-based, which we think is appropriate for early stage startups. If you’ve been spending to acquire customers (profitably hopefully!),

Forecast 95

Forecast Early Stage Seed Stage Startup 95

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 25, 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. What channels have worked to date and done so cost-efficiently? You can read the rest of the posts in the series by clicking here *. Traction Deep Dive : If you’ve got it, flaunt it.

Seed Stage 166

Seed Stage Retention Restful Valuation 166

Hunter Walker

SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

Haystack’s Semil Shah wrote up his POV on what this has all meant for the seed market and one point in particular caught my eye. Semil asserts, Seed-stage valuations have generally been left-unchanged, and I could argue even they’ve gone up since the beginning of 2022.

Cap Table 93

Cap Table Valuation Salary Seed Stage 93

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

Q: What is going to happen to the cost of capital? Q: What is the opportunity cost of not being in tech? Both early- and late-stage startup valuations are currently elevated. For context, seed-stage pre-money valuations are up 24% from H1 2020 to H1 2021. Are low interest rates structural, or temporal? .

Valuation 319

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Distribution Early Stage 319

Up and Running

JUNE 14, 2010

One thing that came up repeatedly, then, was the impact of steeply declining web development costs on professional investment. He cites Seed Deals Account for 26% of Early-stage Web Investments in which Giga Om points out the rise of a relatively new class of angel investors, which they call super angels.

Disintermediation 66

Disintermediation Venture Capital Angel Investor Seed Stage 66