David Teten

JANUARY 21, 2021

This essay is part of a series on alternative VC: I: Revenue-Based Investing: a new option for founders who care about control. II: Who are the major Revenue-Based Investing VCs? III: Why are Revenue-Based VCs investing in so many women and underrepresented founders? IV: Should your new VC fund use Revenue-Based Investing?

Equity 78

Equity Revenue Cofounder Colorado 78

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2012

The good news is that he is all about helping early-stage startups. These are emerging group of professional investors (venture capitalists, ala VCs), who are investing from a fund of other people’s money, with a particular focus on seed-stage startup opportunities. Early-stage startup. Super Angels.

Early Stage 253

Early Stage Finance Seed Stage Entrepreneur 253

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. For background, see Revenue-Based Investing: A New Option for Founders who Care About Control. At least 12 months of customer history, generally 20+ enterprise customers or 200+ SMB customers.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

The Startup Magazine

MAY 30, 2022

In the early stages of your new e-commerce venture, the expense of various small business shipping choices can add up quickly. This, on the other hand, can severely cut into your revenue. When customers receive a product in an awful state or broken, they ask for a refund and leave a negative review.

Small Business 166

Small Business Software Review Technical Review Early Stage 166

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

Does the traditional VC financing model make sense for all companies? 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. So what is Revenue Based Investing? Absolutely not.

Revenue 60

Revenue Term Sheet Founder Technical Review 60

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 19, 2013

The line of reasoning goes, “Services businesses are not scalable and the market won’t reward this revenue so make sure that third-parties do your implementation or clients do it themselves. We only want software revenue.” If you’re an early-stage enterprise startup services revenue is exactly what you need.

Technical Review 403

Technical Review Software Review Startup API 403

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 1, 2023

As an early-stage company that just closed our seed round at $8.1 million at the end of last year, we’re laser-focused on fast growth without sacrificing customer experience. We’re hitting record revenue months, weeks, and margins. That includes us. And you know what we found? The faster you learn, the better.

Early Stage 146

Early Stage Los Angeles Silicon Valley Cofounder 146

Austin Startup

NOVEMBER 29, 2017

This 4-part story, however, explores the Austin ecosystem based on the 4Cs framework —  culture , capital, customers , and competencies. It follows up on my posts discussing why early stage startups should — or should not — move to Silicon Valley. Should Early Stage Startups Move to Austin because of Capital?

Early Stage 48

Early Stage Austin Silicon Valley Texas 48

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 4, 2019

At Wildcat, we recommend benchmarking your startup against the four core architectural pillars of the Traction Gap Framework: product , revenue , team and systems. Each has specific requirements linked to each stage and value inflection point of the Traction Gap journey. What does this mean for their early stage investors?

Framework 127

Framework Architecture Cleveland Early Stage 127

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. Commit to a major customer. Set expectations accordingly.

Entrepreneur 283

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 283

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2017

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. Commit to a major customer. Set expectations accordingly.

Product Development 177

Product Development Cost Developer Product 177

YoungUpstarts

MAY 24, 2019

At Wildcat, we recommend benchmarking your startup against the four core architectural pillars of the Traction Gap Framework: product , revenue , team and systems. Each has specific requirements linked to each stage and value inflection point of the Traction Gap journey. What does this mean for their early stage investors?

Framework 113

Framework Architecture Cleveland Early Stage 113

The Startup Magazine

JANUARY 27, 2022

Every startup needs financing in order to get off the ground, but maintaining a stream of income is also crucial for staying in business. While you don’t have to be a financial professional, understanding the basics of business finance is still important for tracking your budgets and overall financial performance. Project planning.

Startup 151

Startup Australia Web Development Forecast 151

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. Commit to a major customer. Set expectations accordingly.

Intellectual Property 309

Intellectual Property Technical Review Venture Capital Startup 309

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Unfortunately in early stage startups the drive for financing hijacks the corporate DNA and becomes the raison d’etre of the company. Chasing funding versus chasing customers and a repeatable and scalable business model, is one reason startups fail. What are Early Stage VC’s Really Asking? Can it scale?”

Customer Development 266

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 266

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. Commit to a major customer. Solicit funds from friends and family.

Intellectual Property 134

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 134

Gust

JULY 8, 2012

The good news is that he is all about helping early-stage startups. These are emerging group of professional investors (venture capitalists, ala VCs), who are investing from a fund of other people’s money, with a particular focus on seed-stage startup opportunities. Early-stage startup. Super Angels.

Early Stage 177

Early Stage Finance Seed Stage Entrepreneur 177

Eric Friedman

JULY 19, 2019

Many early stage investors look for financial models for 3+ years from founders to make an investment. Even if it’s too early, you are pre-revenue, or just at the idea stage I think its ok to hold your nose and go through the OpEx exercise. In fact, for early stage companies you are usually wildly wrong.

Early Stage 114

Early Stage Startup Framework Revenue 114

View from Seed

OCTOBER 24, 2019

Hopefully, by bringing on strong partners early, you will get great advice and support to minimize your overall dilution down the road. They find weak pre-seed investors or angels who are almost predatory in their early stage pricing and add no value. should be avoided. Experienced founders: Consumer.

Dilution 149

Dilution B2B Burn Rate Early Stage 149

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

There is nothing more pure than building a product, putting it out in the world and seeing paying customers using your product and in some cases loving it. As an early-stage VC I love this phase. How long does it take me to pay back my original customer acquisition costs? How profitable is my product or service?

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 11, 2021

One of the most important things to get right when starting a small business is your finances, but if you’ve never had to organise invoices and pay taxes, this is easier said than done. Most startups need some kind of funding in their early stages, whether that’s a loan, grant or pot of savings. Secure funding.

Finance 174

Finance Small Business Management Early Stage 174

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2016

The key to being able to run a business that isn’t yet profitable (on operating margin) is availability of capital to finance losses and preferably at a cost that isn’t too punitive to the founders and employees. Customer acquisition cost. This is how much you spend to get a new customer. So here are some more details ….

Metrics 150

Metrics Cost Acquisition Startup 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2011

The good news is that he is all about helping early-stage startups, the hard part for entrepreneurs is figuring out what it takes to play. These are emerging group of professional investors (venture capitalists, ala VCs), who are investing from a fund of other people’s money, with a particular focus on seed-stage startup opportunities.

Early Stage 231

Early Stage Seed Stage Angel Investor Silicon Valley 231

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. Any custom manufactured IoT device would require software development as well as hardware customization. Stages of Equity-based funding. ? Early-stage.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

VC Cafe

JULY 21, 2022

The portion of women who play games has increased (+5%), with almost as many women playing games as men – 85% vs 81%, respectively ( source ) Gaming is expanding – companies who didn’t traditionally do gaming (like Netflix ) have understood that it’s a key activity for their customers time spent outside of work.

Forecast 190

Forecast IP Mobile Acquisition 190

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. Commit to a major customer. Solicit funds from friends and family.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 120

The Startup Magazine

JULY 1, 2019

As a result, most of their owners’ energy goes towards getting customers. Numerous accounting systems such as QuickBooks Online, FreshBooks, and Wave exist to help small business owners perform basic accounting tasks in the early stages. Accounting Software. In such cases, accounting software will do just fine. File tax reports.

CPA 92

CPA Software Review Bankruptcy Early Stage 92

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

The functions of an early-stage board are pretty obvious and well understood: Providing introductions to customers, biz dev partners, recruits, the press, other investors, etc. And somebody who isn’t thinking necessarily thinking about how to maximize their ownership in your next round of financing. Mentorship.

Technical Review 325

Technical Review Early Stage Software Review Los Angeles 325

Up and Running

JULY 28, 2022

Small Business Administration , an organization is considered to be a small business if their: Firm revenue ranges from $1 million to $40 million Number of employees is between 100 and 1,500. The right time for drafting a founders agreement is in the early stages of business. According to the U.S. Establish a privacy policy.

Small Business 167

Small Business Intellectual Property Cofounder Software Review 167

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

In his tenure as CEO of DataSift we have never missed a monthly revenue figure. He has grown our US operations from 1 employee (him) to a global organization of 75 employees that will finish the year with 8-digit revenues (90+% recurring) and more than 350% year-over-year growth. In his spare time he raised nearly $30 million.

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles 365

Hearpreneur

OCTOBER 25, 2023

The expansion of e-commerce should also bring about seeing returns as a strategic lever, similar to how companies used faster delivery to drive customer experience and revenue. 3- Investing both time and finance Photo Credit: Jonathan Hussey The biggest thing for me is to understand what you're undertaking before you start.

eCommerce 132

eCommerce Omaha Entrepreneur SEO 132

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 11, 2021

Photo by Vanna Phon on Unsplash Customer acquisition is the lifeblood of many startups from e-commerce to gaming to marketplace companies, among others. that’s where the customers are. But if you ask anyone in the ecosystem of customer acquisition?—?founders, no surprise?—?that’s founders, marketers, investors?—?and

Founder 424

Founder Product Cofounder Acquisition 424

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 9, 2019

Tech startups are, in contrast, focused on rapid growth, potential, and top-end revenue. A startup that begins to generate cash in the early stages of operation will often make the mistake of confusing income with available cash. Early profits should be directed back into your tech startup to boost growth and business stability.

Technical Review 112

Technical Review Bootstrapping Startup Finance 112

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2022

Early-stage entrepreneurs rightly keep their focus on creating an innovative product or service. After celebrating success at that level, they often find themselves ill-prepared to move to the next stage, for scaling their business into a high-performing enterprise. Optimize the total customer experience.

Mezzanine 368

Mezzanine Private Equity Bandwidth Metrics 368

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 31, 2022

After many years in business, I’m convinced that none of us has the strengths and interest in all the areas needed for success, including solution changes, finance, marketing, and operations. Timing is important, and communication with your customer set is critical. Galvanizing: rally a team and customers for action.

Metrics 272

Metrics Early Stage Finance Programming 272

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Tuesday, April 14, 2009 Validated learning about customers Would you rather have $30,000 or $1 million in revenues for your startup? All things being equal, of course, you’d rather have more revenue rather than less. And yet revenue alone is not a sufficient goal.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Steve Blank

MAY 11, 2021

billion in early funding. Dozens of outreach programs across the military now offer quick revenue to early-stage companies. Yet, for every newly minted success like Palantir or Anduril , thousands of companies struggle to find follow-on opportunities after receiving early innovation contracts.

Artificial Inteligence 360

Artificial Inteligence Marketing Startup Silicon Valley 360