Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2020

For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested. On the other hand, if you are a new entrepreneur, still in the idea stage, professional investors will only tell you to come back later when you have traction (customers and revenue).

Angel Investor 370

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 370

David Teten

MARCH 18, 2021

Thirty-four VC firms in OpenVC call themselves “early-stage” Yet, 30% of those don’t actually invest in pre-revenue startups. For example, Point Nine Capital focuses on B2B SaaS and marketplaces at the seed stage, across many industries. . “Tech” means B2B Saas/Fintech or Consumer apps.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Cofounder Venture Capital Deal Flow 78

Rob Go

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

Most of these rhyme with what we’ve said in the past, but some have also evolved to fit the changing landscape and our own convictions about what really matters for founders and their investors at the seed stage. However, our overall goal is to invest in the full spectrum of seed. Belief #1: The best time to invest is early.

North America 36

North America Seed Stage Early Stage Lead Investor 36

Agile VC

APRIL 17, 2011

How They Make Money: Majority of Kayak’s revenue actually comes from advertising on their site (55%), not lead generation or referral fees to travel suppliers as you might think (more on this below). Financial Snapshot: 2010 Revenue: $170 million. Revenue growth: 51% YoY (2010), 1% YoY (2009), 131% YoY (2008).

Pre-Money Valuation 113

Pre-Money Valuation Liquidation Preference Dividend Common Stock 113

BeyondVC

JANUARY 3, 2019

We had another solid year filled with learning, growth, laughter, and new projects and partners. Thanks to all of the amazing founders, advisors, co-investors, corporate partners, and others that helped make 2018 an amazing year. First check to seed?—?congrats We are truly grateful for your support. First check to Series B?—?congrats

Stealth 79

Stealth Advisory Board Cloud Virginia 79

Hippoland

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

I’ll give you an example with my own startup LaunchBit and how our understanding of the problem and the customer became more refined over time: V1: Helping online marketers get customers profitably. V2: Helping online marketers who have previously bought ads in email lists get customers profitably. But the execution is hard.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Business Model B2B Email 48

Hippoland

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

I’ll give you an example with my own startup LaunchBit and how our understanding of the problem and the customer became more refined over time: V1: Helping online marketers get customers profitably. V2: Helping online marketers who have previously bought ads in email lists get customers profitably. But the execution is hard.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Business Model B2B Email 48

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 22, 2012

It’s basically working with potential outside partners to reach your business goals--which could be revenue, distribution, financing, product development, awareness, etc. So, when you read into it, marketing isn't really selling, it's more of finding and packaging the right thing to sell to the right customers.

PR 144

PR Technical Review Seed Stage Design 144

VC Cafe

MARCH 31, 2021

VC Cafe: What’s the best advice or practical tips you have for founders with regards to marketing and branding at seed stage? This can be really hard for early stage startups, but it means the difference between being good or being great. Be customer-obsessed. Stay focused and block out the noise.

Marketing 180

Marketing Early Stage Seed Stage 180

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2018

For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested. On the other hand, if you are a new entrepreneur, still in the idea stage, professional investors will only tell you to come back later when you have traction (customers and revenue).

Angel Investor 184

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 184

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

I certainly bear no ill will to the various firms that ultimately passed on our fundraise… as a seed stage VC myself now I can appreciate how hard it is evaluating companies at the earliest stages of development. We three partners are working hard. Great to see you had such a good partner to start with.

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

K9 Ventures

APRIL 28, 2010

– a seed-stage fund. is a $6.25M fund that is designed to do concept and seed-stage investments in technology companies. Direct Revenue : The company must have a direct revenue model. I would like to take a moment to thank K9′s Limited Partners for their support of this first fund.

Seed Stage 61

Seed Stage San Francisco IP Portfolio 61

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. And often a deck is being read as a follow-up by the potential lead partner or the rest of her partnership. Marketing Deep Dive: How are you acquiring those customers and why?

Seed Stage 166

Seed Stage Retention Restful Valuation 166

Agile VC

JUNE 5, 2011

They’ve grown from nothing to >$2B in revenue in 30 months time, making the company among the fastest growing businesses in the histroy of the world. How They Make Money: Groupon keeps a share of the coupon value (typically 40-50%) as its net revenue (1). Financial Snapshot: 2010 Revenue: $713M. to the merchant.

North America 100

North America Chicago Boston Silicon Valley 100

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2014

For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested. On the other hand, if you are a new entrepreneur, still in the idea stage, professional investors will only tell you to come back later when you have traction (customers and revenue).

Angel Investor 232

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 232

Haystack

FEBRUARY 17, 2019

And this week, the company announced it had raised a super-sized $20M Series A financing co-led by Kent Bennett from Bessemer Venture Partners and also Goldman Sachs. SecondMeasure if a unique company that also boasts a unique customer set. The round was completed last fall, but announced this week.).

Seed Stage 106

Seed Stage Retention Finance Conversion 106

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2016

For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested. On the other hand, if you are a new entrepreneur, still in the idea stage, professional investors will only tell you to come back later when you have traction (customers and revenue).

Matching 120

Matching Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers 120

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 16, 2020

As a seed stage investor, I know the math. The factory was eating cash faster than our customers were eating our ice cream—and they were eating a lot. Half the companies I invest in won’t provide a financial return. It was too big and too expensive to run given the size of our business and speed of our new shop openings.

Bankruptcy 95

Bankruptcy Private Equity Seed Stage Dilution 95

K9 Ventures

JULY 19, 2012

which was a $6.25M fund designed to be deployed over 3-4 years, making initial investments between $100K – $250K in concept and seed stage technology companies located in the San Francisco Bay Area. Direct Revenue : The company must have a way of getting direct revenue from its customers (“I deliver value to you, you pay me”).

Technology 132

Technology Seed Stage San Francisco Limited Partner 132

K9 Ventures

JULY 19, 2012

which was a $6.25M fund designed to be deployed over 3-4 years, making initial investments between $100K – $250K in concept and seed stage technology companies located in the San Francisco Bay Area. Direct Revenue : The company must have a way of getting direct revenue from its customers (“I deliver value to you, you pay me”).

Technology 132

Technology Seed Stage San Francisco Limited Partner 132

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2012

I was here to see one of our LPs (limited partners are the people who invest money in VC funds) called Fort Washington. They’ve been a long-term investor in our fund – GRP Partners – and it was important to me to spend time with them in their home market and meet the people with whom they deal locally. In that sense it felt very LA.

Houston 364

Houston Dallas Los Angeles Chicago 364

The Equity Kicker

NOVEMBER 28, 2016

Some very early stage investors go as far as to say that for them team is everything. At Forward Partners we don’t go that far. In the sectors in which we invest that nearly always means building momentum with customers. If the founder is great that’s all they need to know to write a cheque.

Seed Stage 60

Seed Stage Later Stage Early Stage Partner 60

mashable.com

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

For the first-time entrepreneur or founder looking for seed stage funding, this circle can be especially difficult to penetrate. Mashable Mashable reached out to angels, seed stage investors and VC firm partners and asked them to share their wisdom with the rest of us. and Path Intelligence.

Angel Investor 80

Angel Investor Startup San Francisco Social Media 80

View from Seed

APRIL 23, 2015

This is doing right by both your company and your customers. I believe this to be 100% true, and I know every partner at NextView feels the same way. It’s an insufficient approach to gaining customer or user traction, which is the more important thing, but it’s also insufficient in most VC pitches. Accidental VC'

Founder 120

Founder Distribution Viral Seed Stage 120

Agile VC

AUGUST 12, 2011

The simple answer is “be able to convince a partnership of smart investors that your startup has a good probability of being a $100M+ revenue company within 5ish years.” I was in a board meeting for a seed stage company recently and a successful GP at a larger fund said “you know it when you see it” which is true.

Seed Stage 113

Seed Stage Silicon Valley B2B Acquisition 113

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 15, 2020

That's why the Corona Initiative is a Public Benefit Corporation--a for-profit company dedicated to the public good that aims to fund its research with its revenues. You really want to see how your company treats its employees, treats its customers, treats the environment, taking a longer-term view." Robert Rhinehart : Hi.

Technical Review 68

Technical Review Software Review Finance Technology 68

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 9, 2020

As described by Tim Ferriss in Tools of Titans , to be a successful creator you don’t need millions of dollars, customers, or fans. Trend to watch : an equivalent to MCNs (Multi Channel Networks) on the early days of YouTube where creators band together to generate economies of scale (and share revenue). ” Eric Feng.

Aggregator 207

Aggregator Vertical Audience Seed Stage 207

mashable.com

NOVEMBER 2, 2011

Joshua Baer is the co-founder and CEO of Otherinbox , a prolific angel investor and the director of Capital Factory , Austin’s seed-stage incubator. If you can name drop big customers, do that too — you want your profile to look impressive. How many customers have signed up to your service? Focus on traction.

Social Media 80

Social Media Startup Angel Investor RSS 80

Seeing Both Sides

SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

To answer these questions, we built a database of 112 Israeli companies founded between 1996 and 2013 that have met or exceeded $20 million in revenue. According to Izhar Shay, a general partner at Canaan Partners, “The investment community has matured to recognize they need to plan for scale.

Cofounder 20

Cofounder Technical Review United States 20

View from Seed

JUNE 16, 2015

And that product is a highly engaged seed-stage investment where we are usually the lead or co-lead in a round and will often take a board seat. In my opinion, VCs shy away from directly answering the questions pertaining to “at what point a company is fundable” or give a generic answer regarding revenue.

Boston 120

Boston Syndicate Syndication eCommerce 120

K9 Ventures

JULY 21, 2016

And 2 seed stage companies that haven’t launched yet. Custom parts can also sometimes lead you down a rabbit-hole of building your own equipment to build those custom parts (and yes, I’ve had multiple companies that have had to do this!). Coin — a programmable payment device in a credit card form factor.

Software Review 48

Software Review Forecast Portfolio Distribution 48

Agile VC

DECEMBER 5, 2011

Objective Logistics has created a game layer on top of very sophisticated scheduling algorithms which increase revenue, save time, and improve customer and staff satisfaction. I co-founded NextView Ventures , a seed-stage VC firm based in Boston, in 2010. My partner @ LeeHower looks back: [link] 5 days ago Search.

Silicon Valley 100

Silicon Valley Seed Stage Syndicate Syndication 100

Hippoland

JANUARY 29, 2016

Even though there are a lot of web resources on how to put together a pitch deck for seed-stage companies, most don’t address how many decks you need and for what purpose. Some investors prefer to dive into product questions and others really want to dive into customer acquisition channels and unit metrics.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Angel Investor Entrepreneur Forecast 48

View from Seed

OCTOBER 22, 2015

Also, it will take at least three months to raise the next round of financing, whatever it is (Series A, seed extension, etc.). So fundraising time needs to be taken into account, as well as potential offsetting of expenses by revenue, though here, the most conservative of estimates is best. Escape the time-based model vacuum.

Seed Capital 120

Seed Capital Seed Stage Demand Finance 120

BeyondVC

FEBRUARY 12, 2014

BOLDstart helps founders at the seed stage accelerate their growth from idea/ alpha phase to product market fit and successful Series A round. helps founders at the seed stage accelerate their growth from idea/ alpha phase to product market fit and successful Series A round”.

Seed Stage 110

Seed Stage Agile Viral API 110

Agile VC

FEBRUARY 2, 2012

My partner Rob also wondered if Facebook is the next Yahoo! , How They Make Money : Facebook’s primary revenue stream is of course selling advertising on Facebook.com, which in total accounts for 85% of revenue. Financial Snapshot : 2011 Revenue: $3.71 2011 YoY Revenue Growth: 88%. or the next Google.

IPO 100

IPO South Korea Venezuela Revenue 100

Women Entrepreneurs Can

MAY 9, 2019

As you acquire customers and your customer base grows, once you start to make a profit it’s only natural to start thinking about the next step forward. Scaling will increase the cost it takes to do business and it often does it before you’re able to generate additional revenue in the traditional way your company acquires sales.

Programming 40

Programming Sweat Equity Startup Private Equity 40