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. Seed stage. Growth and expansion stages.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

There are two reasons to raise money: You have a killer idea that is only partially validated, that you think can get to $50M+ of revenue in 5 years with 80%+ gross margins (if margins are lower, you need a lot more revenue)and you need money to get to product-market fit, or. Better answer, “Because I’m the customer.”)

Cofounder 429

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 429

View from Seed

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 120

North America Seed Stage Early Stage Lead Investor 120

Mucker Lab

OCTOBER 10, 2023

If there are inbound leads, the situation is different; hiring an AE might be suitable if these leads align with the ideal customer profile. Sally suggests considering a full-time Sales Leader when a startup has two or more AEs and SDRs and is on the verge of hitting a $1 million Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR).

Early Stage 78

Early Stage Sales Developer Development Team Review 78

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2023

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 313

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 313

Agile VC

FEBRUARY 5, 2014

This is a logical thing to do… when we started LinkedIn, my mentor Reid Hoffman instilled a mantra of Growth –> Usage –> Revenue which still holds for many consumer companies. Business facing companies typically provide software or an online service for which their customers pay a fee.

Revenue 234

Revenue Product B2B Marketing 234

Reid Hoffman

AUGUST 6, 2020

But for us, revenue is not a hard prerequisite because some of our bets are based on our conviction around technology or platforms that might take a little more time to build out and get going.”. At the seed stage, we have backed very non-obvious, non-pedigreed entrepreneurs, in spaces that weren’t obvious, who ended up being amazing.

Technical Review 69

Technical Review Seed Stage Software Review Early Stage 69

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Getting investors to trust you with their money is always a challenge, and it’s even more difficult in the early stages, where you don’t have a significant revenue stream, a few customers, or maybe even a product yet. At these stages, it’s all about you, and your ability to communicate and execute effectively.

Due Diligence 271

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Preferred Stock 271

Steve Blank

APRIL 12, 2010

Each sale requires us to handhold the customer and takes way too long to close. He took a deep breath, looked around the boardroom table and then proceeded to outline a radical reconfiguration of the product line (repackaging the products rather than reengineering them) and a change in sales strategy, focusing on a different customer segment.

Business Model 332

Business Model Agile Customer Development Startup 332

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2023

Thus, in my view, entrepreneurship is an evolution of an idea through a series of developmental stages, culminating in a self-sustaining business. A business is an entity which exchanges goods and services with people outside the business (customers) for money, social good, or something of equal value. Funding and rollout stage.

Matching 270

Matching Entrepreneur Startup Seed Stage 270

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

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. B) Post-Product Companies.

Seed Stage 149

Seed Stage B2B Seed Capital Revenue 149

View from Seed

AUGUST 3, 2021

As seed stage investors here at NextView Ventures , we have the privilege of working with a wide profile of founders at the company conception stage — from early-career first time entrepreneurs , to seasoned execs turned founders , to repeat successful entrepreneurs.

Cofounder 156

Cofounder Seed Stage Portfolio Revenue 156

View from Seed

AUGUST 3, 2021

As seed stage investors here at NextView Ventures , we have the privilege of working with a wide profile of founders at the company conception stage — from early-career first time entrepreneurs , to seasoned execs turned founders , to repeat successful entrepreneurs.

Cofounder 156

Cofounder Seed Stage Revenue Acquisition 156

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2020

Getting investors to trust you with their money is always a challenge, and it’s even more difficult in the early stages, where you don’t have a significant revenue stream, a few customers, or maybe even a product yet. At these stages, it’s all about you, and your ability to communicate and execute effectively.

Due Diligence 308

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Preferred Stock Seed Stage 308

View from Seed

AUGUST 3, 2021

As seed stage investors here at NextView Ventures , we have the privilege of working with a wide profile of founders at the company conception stage — from early-career first time entrepreneurs , to seasoned execs turned founders , to repeat successful entrepreneurs.

Cofounder 136

Cofounder Seed Stage Portfolio Revenue 136

Gust

NOVEMBER 15, 2012

In my own portfolio I have companies that are generally perceived to be extremely successful with high profile customers and lots of sales…but they just happen to have a liquidation preference ladder of $25 million!

Seed Stage 131

Seed Stage Hockey Stick Cap Table Liquidation Preference 131

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 10, 2020

Thus, in my view, entrepreneurship is an evolution of an idea through a series of developmental stages, culminating in a self-sustaining business. A business is an entity which exchanges goods and services with people outside the business (customers) for money, social good, or something of equal value. Funding and rollout stage.

Matching 317

Matching Seed Stage Angel Investor Business Model 317

View from Seed

MARCH 15, 2017

VC evaluation of seed-stage startups can seem arbitrary or imitative at times. Internally, the scarcity of tangible business metrics – product usage or revenue multiples for example – can make an investment decision feel daunting. Any seed stage company’s strategy is a constant work-in-progress.

Due Diligence 265

Due Diligence Seed Stage Portfolio Metrics 265

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2013

Yet our initial customer success didn’t translate into big revenue growth and we faced issues such as: Do we support developers, end-users or both? I have a very public seed stage investment policy and awe.sm I loved the entire journey – good and bad – and the employees and customers.

Technical Review 303

Technical Review Cofounder Analytics Founder 303

BeyondVC

JANUARY 29, 2017

It is truly an art form when it comes to striking that steady balance between developer and community love versus generating revenue and potentially alienating those who supported you. Without the developers, you have no customers. Optimizing for Price at Seed Stage is a Mistake. also published on Medium.

Revenue 60

Revenue Developer Open Source Seed Stage 60

Hunter Walker

JULY 22, 2014

Hey founders, want to hear something incredibly frustrating about seed financing? You know the one that inevitably has you at $100 million in revenue by Year Three? Just* committing to grow customers or revenue or usage can still create a hollow company. I don’t believe the forecast you show me. Yeah, that one.

Forecast 95

Forecast Early Stage Seed Stage Startup 95

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

Gust

OCTOBER 20, 2011

In 2011, the valuation of pre-revenue, start-up companies is typically in the range of $1.5–$2.5 Such comparisons can only be made for companies at the same stage of development, in this case, for pre-revenue startup ventures. As can be seen the average (mean) pre-money valuation for recent pre-revenue deals is $2.1

Valuation 146

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Intellectual Property Technical Review 146

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 13, 2010

Since that date the S&P 500 is up 2.45% while Accenture stock is up 206% with revenue of $23 billion and a market cap of $32 billion. “Reality is, at the seed stage, most rocketships look more like the cardboard variety you’d make as a kid than something NASA developed. The things that always differentiated Accenture?

Turkey 302

Turkey Differentiation IP Technical Review 302

Hippoland

OCTOBER 9, 2016

revenue / traction / setting up infrastructure / etc) This can set you apart, because the vast majority of businesses I see at the seed stage are just ideas with no action. At the seed stage, there are companies who have been around for 5 months and others for 5 years. 2) Speed matters. They are easier to read.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage CTO Hire Email Later Stage 48

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. Series-seed round. Super Angels.

Early Stage 231

Early Stage Seed Stage Angel Investor Silicon Valley 231

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

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. Series-seed round. Super Angels.

Early Stage 253

Early Stage Finance Seed Stage Entrepreneur 253

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 14, 2011

But, eventually, in our haphazard and awkward way, we did release a product, get some customers, including major universities and large corporate publishers, and raise a significant amount of capital. in revenue. Get one customer. Get one customer. revenue) before they write a check. Get your hands dirty.

Silicon Valley 126

Silicon Valley Montana Curation Seed Stage 126

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

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 18, 2014

Generate Real Revenue. Another approach to raise Series A is to drive meaningful revenue. Similar to a revenue-focused strategy, this approach goes further than vanity metrics in demonstrating ultra-high engagement and penetrations into a small number of users/buyers. Craft a Small Scale Machine. Go for your Series A earlier.

Syndicate 333

Syndicate Syndication Seed Stage Startup 333

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’m pleased to announce the formation of K9 Ventures, L.P. K9 Ventures, L.P.

Seed Stage 61

Seed Stage San Francisco IP Portfolio 61

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

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

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