Berkonomics

MARCH 5, 2020

One way to mitigate this is by using early money to create a prototype, to perform market research, to complete the first generation of the product, or to deliver the service to a satisfied customer. Second: Market risk. . Are you ahead or behind the market with your product or service? Third: Management risk. . And fifth: Competitive risk.

Valuation 62

Valuation Down Round Early Stage Demand 62

Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2023

Whether the partner is a supplier looking to gain a lock on your business as it grows or a customer looking to create a competitive barrier through use of your product, such an investment typically carries fewer restrictions than from a professional investor and less oversight.

Private Equity 118

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 118

The Equity Kicker

JANUARY 22, 2014

To meet growth and revenue targets, you hire and spend like never before. You fall into the spiral of death: head of sales gets replaced (at least once), CEO gets replaced (at least once), a down-round financing happens (if lucky). Investors pay a high valuation to get into a good deal, betting on continued fast growth.

Venture Capital 102

Venture Capital Down Round Valuation Lean 102

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 19, 2015

Rob,” he said, “no offense, but you aren’t going to get a world class, been-there-done-that CEO into a company with less than $1 million in revenue. Sometimes the only path forward is to fill a gap with a down round of funding, a B-player, or some other non-ideal option. Startups are incredibly hard. Keep at it. Be pragmatic.

Founder 120

Founder Startup Cofounder Business Model 120

VC Cafe

JUNE 10, 2022

While these prices are still high compared to what we see in Israel, Investors have putting a stronger focus on revenue growth (and in particular startups that can reach substantial revenue targets) especially before series A. That’s why Bessemer ventures coined a new term, reflecting that revenue is king.

Valuation 151

Valuation Marketing Venture Capital 151

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. And most startup code and features end up on the floor as customers never really wanted them.

Lean 244

Lean Silicon Valley Startup RSS 244

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015

Some will demonstrate strategically justifiable metrics and have fantastic ‘up round’ exits; others may see liquidation preferences kick in which will negatively impact founders and employees; others may fulfill the adage “IPO is the new down round” , which has been the case for more than half of the public companies on our list.

Liquidation Preference 70

Liquidation Preference Burn Rate Balance Sheet .Net 70

Berkonomics

JUNE 8, 2017

Whether the partner is a supplier looking to gain a lock on your business as it grows or a customer looking to create a competitive barrier through use of your product, such an investment typically carries fewer restrictions than from a professional investor and less oversight. It’s an option, even though an expensive one.

Private Equity 106

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 106

Business Plan Blog

OCTOBER 8, 2013

If you are pre-revenue then it will be difficult to portray market traction unless you have the budget to conduct customer surveys. Investors want to see a growth/revenue model that uses sales data and assumptions that predict sales by product and region. Ignoring Market Need/Traction. Ignoring Milestones.

Business Plan 67

Business Plan NDA Exit Strategy Valuation 67

Growthink Blog

MAY 23, 2011

With this seed capital – more often than not totaling between $100,000 and $1,000,000 - the company accomplishes a number of key technical milestones, gets a beta customer or two, and then goes on a "road show" to venture capitalists around the country for capital to “scale” the business.

Angel Investor 112

Angel Investor Venture Capital Sweat Equity Cram Down 112

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 26, 2022

Before product-market fit… just care about speed of iteration according to your customer feedback. Put your users first: pretend that your customers have a seat at the table when you design your product roadmap. Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” Need for Speed, indeed.

Founder 187

Founder Startup Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 187

VC Cafe

JANUARY 2, 2023

As Fred Wilson put in in his post ‘What will happen in 2023’ “I believe that ‘new normal’ is more or less where we were in 2015 where seed rounds were done around $10mm, A rounds were done around $15mm to $25mm, B rounds were done around $25mm to $50mm, and growth rounds had a cap at 10x revenues.”

Valuation 158

Valuation Down Round Venture Capital 158

Berkonomics

JANUARY 20, 2010

Whether the partner is a supplier looking to gain a lock on your business as it grows or a customer looking to create a competitive barrier through use of your product, such an investment typically carries fewer restrictions than from a professional investor and less oversight.

Private Equity 69

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 69

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. Invoca was raising at the tail end of this market phenomenon at this time doing tens of millions in SaaS recurring revenue and growing at a nice clip. FOMO was NOMO.

Balance Sheet 150

Balance Sheet Burn Rate Valuation Forecast 150

Reid Hoffman

JUNE 8, 2021

And then how would you prompt other entrepreneurial leaders to think more broadly about stakeholders than even just investors, employees, customers, which tends to be the typical trifecta? We identified five, and the trifecta of employees, shareholders and customers, everyone has those, we also added two more. BC: Exactly, Reid.

Silicon Valley 69

Silicon Valley Hosting Rhode Island Design 69

NZ Entrepreneur

JULY 8, 2019

Soon after that first investment, I started my first business, and am now on my fifth (all $1m+ in revenue, but not all ‘successful’). I personally funded my first ventures, then led the two rounds that have seen Ambit take in $2.2m Who does this investor know in the customer, partner and executive space they can introduce you to?

New Zealand 42

New Zealand Entrepreneur Valuation Dilution 42

Reid Hoffman

JUNE 8, 2021

And then how would you prompt other entrepreneurial leaders to think more broadly about stakeholders than even just investors, employees, customers, which tends to be the typical trifecta? We identified five, and the trifecta of employees, shareholders and customers, everyone has those, we also added two more. BC: Exactly, Reid.

Silicon Valley 36

Silicon Valley Hosting Rhode Island Design 36

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

There never has to be atime when you have no revenues. By which I meannot that it has to make something physical, but that it has to haveone thing it sells to many people, rather than doing custom workfor individual clients. Custom work doesnt scale. To be a startup, a company hasto be a product business, not a service business.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

VC Cafe

MAY 18, 2022

Down rounds are coming. What is your plan if half your current customers go bankrupt? David Sacks offers a few benchmarks on growth rates (revenue), gross margins, CAC payback and burn. Go Big or Go Profitable: customers want the product and the company has faith that bookings and churn won’t suffer in a downturn.

Term Sheet 190

Term Sheet Startup Valuation Ukraine 190