Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 21, 2013

I think it’s important for enterprise startups to layer in professional services into your revenue stream. deliver profitable revenue that while on gross margins of 50% vs. software at 85-95% it is still profits to help you cover fixed costs. Control Size of PS Revenue Relative to Software Business. rollout support.

Software Review 321

Software Review Software IP Technical Review 321

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

I've talked about this topic before in How Investors Think About Valuation of Pre-Revenue Startups. The reality is that an early employee in a pre-funded startup that eventually raises a few rounds of capital will be diluted significantly, is down the line in preference, and will likely be locked up for a while to harvest it.

Early Stage 391

Early Stage Equity CTO Hire Sweat Equity 391

YoungUpstarts

JULY 31, 2019

Founders need seed capital to get their operations up and running, and to begin generating revenue. But “fundraising debt” comes into the picture when you raise too much too early, diluting your business at the beginning of the venture, with no real plan or unrealistic projections for how your business will scale.

Cofounder 127

Cofounder Burn Rate Technical Cofounder Seed Capital 127

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 13, 2021

It’s easy to say “yes” to one more feature request after another, until the potential for real impact gets diluted. Obsessive sales – must meet revenue goals. Otherwise, your most innovative and disruptive product thinking will be diluted and lost, killing your dream of a better world.

Dilution 334

Dilution Metrics Acquisition Revenue 334

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. Solution development undefined or incomplete. Naïve expectations on funding terms and process.

Due Diligence 271

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Preferred Stock 271

David Teten

OCTOBER 1, 2015

Should you co-found your company with a software development shop? I’ve talked with a number of software development shops who are eager to get into the business of cofounding companies, i.e., getting product revenue and equity instead of just consulting revenue. mentor VCs, e.g., most VCs.

Software Developers 60

Software Developers Software Development Software Review Technical Cofounder 60

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 7, 2022

Angel investors will perk up if you have a prototype or a few real customers, while venture capitalists will likely choose to wait until you have achieved several million in revenue or customer count. Most professional investors will expect preferred stock, a board seat, rights to later rounds and perhaps anti-dilution protection.

Preferred Stock 304

Preferred Stock Exit Strategy Equity Angel Investor 304

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 27, 2011

And, oh by the way, we also really like the idea of the 1M/1M entrepreneurs building valuation and negotiating leverage through these business development efforts, instead of signing off large chunks of their company in form of equity early on. million in revenue. The business is already profitable with $2.9

Dilution 114

Dilution Revenue Finance Entrepreneur 114

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 19, 2012

When not approached carefully, growth can destroy value as it outstrips a company’s managerial capacity, processes, quality, and financial controls, or substantially dilutes customer value propositions. Their ‘be better’ focus was the underpinning of every growth initiative whether it was top-line, bottom-line, or developing new concepts.

Dilution 209

Dilution Virginia Management Washington 209

Up and Running

JULY 1, 2020

And using your business plan template to develop an expansion plan increases your odds of success and allows you to avoid bad investments. Throughout my 25-year career, I’ve written business plans or have been a part of teams developing plans for business expansions. A good business plan is critical to starting a successful business.

Business Plan 152

Business Plan Forecast Operations Dilution 152

ConversionXL

JULY 22, 2021

Identifying and merging content targeting the same or similar keywords; Removing duplicate content that dilutes importance, and; Improving metadata so that users see what they’re looking for in search engine results pages (SERPs). While these do need attention, the problem lies with your hosting provider or web developer, not your website.

Technical Review 162

Technical Review SEO Software Review XML 162

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

More and more startups are pursuing Revenue-Based VCs , but “RBI” doesn’t fit everyone. Flexible VC 101: Equity Meets Revenue Share. By tying payments to actual revenues, founders and investors remain aligned around the company’s real-time performance, good or bad. Flexible VC: Revenue -based. Of the Inc.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

Throughout the first year we made many fixes and saw our revenue base in these markets accelerate so we felt we were ready to attack Los Angeles, amongst the most important storage markets in the country. An example of the systems companies build are pricing & revenue management tools to best help to optimize yield.

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

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. Solution development undefined or incomplete. Naïve expectations on funding terms and process.

Due Diligence 308

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Preferred Stock Seed Stage 308

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2010

I can save tons of development time and I think I can buy it for all equity. How much dilution should I take for it?&# My friend’s company was pre-revenue. Me: “Zero dilution. A close friend of mine in LA who is 3 years into his startup called me about 2.5 BUT … it’s your company.

Merger 276

Merger Technical Review Early Stage Dilution 276

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. Reasons for funding. ? Once the order is fulfilled and paid for, the funds can be paid back. ? Research and development. Incubators and Accelerators.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

YoungUpstarts

MAY 6, 2019

According to Lee M Von Kraus, PHD and a mentor at Clarity.fm, “Early stage startups are usually pre-money startup that are bootstrapping the early development of a product.”. Product development. Now that you have a refined product idea and a team that can turn this idea into reality, the product development stage will start.

Startup 113

Startup Technical Cofounder Merger Early Stage 113

Gust

OCTOBER 18, 2011

Such comparisons can only be made for companies at the same stage of development. It is one of the most useful methods for establishing the pre-money valuation of pre-revenue startup ventures. in the case of one investment round, no subsequent investment and therefore no dilution). The Venture Capital Method.

Valuation 174

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Southern California Post-Money Valuation 174

Mike Michalowicz

JANUARY 16, 2023

If you’re like me, you may be inundated with emails and ads for TED talks, keynote speeches and small business books from thought leaders offering to help your small business increase revenue. It increases your small business revenue by leaps and bounds too.). Thought sharing is serving. And I think we all want to do that.

Small Business 60

Small Business Audience Revenue Dilution 60

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

The first three skills I espoused were: access to the highest-quality deal-flow, domain knowledge of the topic area in which you’re investing and access to VCs to help fund the next stages of development. avoid being diluted). In the worst case you want to protect your prorata investment as much as possible (e.g. But it is.

Cap Table 283

Cap Table Angel Investor Liquidation Preference Deal Flow 283

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 1, 2010

Hanging your hat on just one advantage that you can own completely is stronger than diluting your message across many advantages. See, we don't line our pockets with that revenue, we spend it making you maximally effective. Don't dilute your message. And it's not just in face-to-face sales calls either. Let's get specific.

Open Source 239

Open Source Dilution Software Developers Software Development 239

YoungUpstarts

MAY 31, 2016

Develop and evolve your company’s product brands through your customer’s eyes. The single biggest reason that the average company struggles or even fails is due to their lack of focus and dilution of their greatest resource, which are people. Oliver is the Senior Director of Research & Development at Medtronic.

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Leadership Early Stage Initial Public Offering 100

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

FEBRUARY 26, 2019

Instead, watch payback period for acquisition efficiency, watch retention for product/market fit, watch expansion revenue for long-term growth, and watch gross margin for long-term profitability. Find and focus on one reliable distribution mechanism before diluting your time diversifying. If the business is young, this is inevitable.

Restful 202

Restful Founder Revenue Acquisition 202

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2016

The founders and team develop a huge confidence level that appropriately increases risk-taking, output, expansion, deals, revenue, press and everything that is a consequence of initial successes. Or some teams who start driving revenue paper over the fact that they aren’t acquiring customers profitably.

Churn Rate 150

Churn Rate Vesting Dilution Europe 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

I thing I’ve learned over the years is that technology purists hate advertising even when it is that revenue stream that truthfully drives much of our industry. So when he saw the browser it instantly dawned on him that this would be the greatest customer development tool ever. Too many entrepreneurs focus on dilution.

Product 350

Product Tuvalu Dilution Incubator 350

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 4, 2020

Angel investors will perk up if you have a prototype or a few real customers, while venture capitalists will likely choose to wait until you have achieved several million in revenue or customer count. Most professional investors will expect preferred stock, a board seat, rights to later rounds and perhaps anti-dilution protection.

Startup 337

Startup Preferred Stock Exit Strategy Equity 337

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 30, 2022

Thanks to Adam Wood, Revenue Geeks ! #7- I think e-commerce and brick-and-mortar businesses will have to pivot towards developing or optimizing social commerce strategies. . In 2022, every business that adapted and survived the pandemic will realize the importance of increasing revenue through online sales. 7- Start outsourcing.

Entrepreneur 121

Entrepreneur Green Technical Review Social Media 121

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

Prior to Netflix, Daniel ran application development for NPR where, among other things, he created the NPR API. The most common example of an API strategy is around companies who aspire to build a developer community as a new revenue source or as the foundation of their business. The reality: “API as a tactic”.

API 135

API Audience Dividend Programming 135

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

If we don’t have a prior relationship, we’ll really want to try to develop that because it’s such a relationship play. Traction and revenue? Typically, the gross margins aren’t there compared to software, so revenue isn’t quite as important in the early stages of getting to market. NVV: Is there any dilution?

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2010

I learned how to integrate customers into our product development process. and we ultimately sold when we hit $14 million and had more than $30 million in backlog revenue. I learned about revenue recognition. But in these years I learned how to sell software – necessity is the mother of all invention.

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Hiring Software Review Stock Options 285

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 7, 2023

They include an expense account, company car, profit sharing, 401k contributions, medical coverage for dependents, free life insurance, educational payments, extra vacation, relocation expenses, paid trips to industry association meetings, or a small override on revenue from new products developed under the candidate’s watch.

Stock Options 62

Stock Options Stock Salary Dilution 62

ConversionXL

AUGUST 30, 2018

It slows product development. It’s likely to be related to improving revenues, reducing costs, increasing the number of new customers, increasing the sales from existing customers, or increasing shareholder value. The finance team understands that content customers are less likely to churn and destabilize revenue flows.

Design 111

Design Framework Product Development Technical Review 111

Business Plan Blog

OCTOBER 4, 2013

If you have a technical background and you are focused on product development, consider a co-founder with a sales and marketing background that can focus on selling your world class product. Having too many co-founders will only lead to your eventual dilution. Typically, these hires fall into 2 buckets: product development and sales.

Part-Time VPE 79

Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE Cofounder CTO Hire 79

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 16, 2016

But entrepreneurs face other concerns that compete with this growth focus, including hiring, maintaining current revenue sources and distinguishing themselves from the competition. But take it from what a good friend and advisor once said to me: “Ego is dilutive to net worth.”. Don’t expand for the sake of your ego.

Cofounder 100

Cofounder Balance Sheet Small Business Administration Technical Review 100

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 13, 2011

years, and had reached an average revenue level of $60 million with the range being from $5 million to $350 million. They end up trying to do too much for too many, which dilutes their focus and often the quality of their product or service. The problem is that too many entrepreneurs never learn to say ‘NO!’ Managing cash flow.

Indianapolis 219

Indianapolis Minneapolis Kentucky Virginia 219

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 23, 2019

Plus, any other non-standard items here should be called out, too, like non-dilutive grants, as applicable. develop and launch X product, reach Y number of users, generate $Z amount revenue). Previous venture firms’ specific involvement on the cap table should be noted here, though.

Cap Table 211

Cap Table Seed Stage Valuation Dilution 211

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 18, 2009

We were strong in the UK and they were strong in Germany and Israel (where they had a development office). I had developed a great relationship with the CEO whom I still admire (he left many years ago). And for all of this we had no dilution and paid no money. million in recurring revenue of which $600k came from Germany.

Germany 298

Germany Entrepreneur Merger Los Angeles 298