Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

Early-stage investors in technology startups are only looking for growth-oriented companies that can achieve an “exit&# someday – either via selling your company to a larger company or via an IPO. So rounds tend to be “range bound&# where the top end of the valuation spectrum often being done in boom markets (i.e.

Pre-Money Valuation 336

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Stock 336

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

How will you price the next round? Your A round? Revenue multiple? Me: There is no rational explanation for valuations of A round companies by ANY objective financial measure. And now I have to explain to team that they’re taking more dilution than they expected if we do a down round.

Venture Capital 417

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet 417

Gust

SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

How will you price the next round? Your A round? Revenue multiple? Me: There is no rational explanation for valuations of A round companies by ANY objective financial measure. And now I have to explain to team that they’re taking more dilution than they expected if we do a down round. A down round?

Liquidation Preference 153

Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet Stock 153

abovethecrowd.com

APRIL 20, 2016

The pressures of lofty paper valuations, massive burn rates (and the subsequent need for more cash), and unprecedented low levels of IPOs and M&A, have created a complex and unique circumstance which many Unicorn CEOs and investors are ill-prepared to navigate. In Q1 of 2016 there were zero VC-backed technology IPOs.

IPO 40

IPO Term Sheet Silicon Valley Valuation 40

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

In an IPO, it might not merely addexpense, but change the outcome. Those remedial actions can delay, stall or even kill the IPO. Of course the odds of any given startup doing an IPO are small.But not as small as they might seem. There never has to be atime when you have no revenues. Hell if they know.In

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2016

Many had started IPO’ing and we started to think about our future. 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. CMRR (contracted monthly recurring revenue) grow 100% y/y. Total customers grew 20% year/year.

Balance Sheet 150

Balance Sheet Burn Rate Valuation Forecast 150

Reid Hoffman

JUNE 8, 2021

Airbnb was preparing for an IPO right when the pandemic hit, and everything changed in a matter of days. But now our hosts are really angry, and they have a huge revenue shortfall. And I made a decision not to do an equity round, because I thought it would be a down round. We couldn’t make them whole.

Silicon Valley 69

Silicon Valley Hosting Rhode Island Design 69