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. These usually play a role in the very early stage of your business, primarily pre-revenue. Stages of Equity-based funding. ? Inception stage.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

As an early-stage VC I love this phase. This financial leader could well have come through the finance org at another startup or at a larger company but they often also can come from strategy consulting (Bain, BCG or McKinsey) or through investment banking (Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, etc.).

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

David Teten

AUGUST 21, 2019

Or should they look to one of the new wave of Revenue-Based Investors? Revenue-Based Investing (“RBI”) is a new form of VC financing, distinct from the preferred equity structure most VCs use. For more background, see Revenue-Based Investing: A New Option for Founders who Care About Control. Less or no dilution.

Revenue 60

Revenue Liquidation Preference Equity Cofounder 60

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. That’s the deal you get when you’re raising in a good market for startup financing. It was early 2000.

Pre-Money Valuation 336

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Stock 336

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 10, 2010

They already have several customers including some telcos, and are at about $350,000 in revenues. I call it drip-financing. Most entrepreneurs have no choice but to avail of this sort of financing along with the mentoring and the contacts that could come with it (doesn't always come along, though). Kir Devries.

Cloud 115

Cloud Silicon Valley Incubator Finance 115

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 13, 2019

Either way, if you know you’re going to fail, it’s much better to do so with your own money on the line than money that also costs you in dilution, perpetuity or more. Consider convertible debt Before diving into a seed round, you may want to consider convertible debt over equity financing. I speak from experience.

Strategic Investors 49

Strategic Investors Austin Angel Investor Bootstrapping 49

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

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

It’s like we need a finance 101 course for entrepreneurs. Revenue multiple? In finance they call it “terminal value” but the truth is the price is as arbitrary at your A round as it is at your seed round. Me: More dilution? There were no metrics. So a convertible note was easier. Your A round?

Venture Capital 417

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet 417

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

especially if the startup already has a product and revenue? While the answers are somewhat semantic, the pre-seed funding round is making a comeback in 2024 startup financing. Pre-seed tends to be about developing an MVP and generating early traction. A founder asked me what makes a $2M round “pre-seed”?

Valuation 186

Valuation Software Review Generative AI Technical Review 186

The Equity Kicker

MAY 14, 2012

Twice in the last week I found myself coaching founders on how to build a financing plan around value creation milestones so I thought I would share what I said here. achieving first revenues. breaking through revenue thresholds – e.g. run-rates of £1m, £5m, £20m and so on. achieving first revenues.

Finance 118

Finance Valuation Venture Capital Dilution 118

Berkonomics

APRIL 26, 2018

If fixed expenses, especially payroll, are paid out before cash is received from services or shipments, the company is financing its growth with ever-increasing working capital needs. Many great businesses in their growth periods find themselves stretched for cash.

Dilution 90

Dilution Acquisition Early Stage Book Value 90

Gust

OCTOBER 12, 2011

Last week , we took the plunge and began dissecting an example term sheet for a convertible debt financing round piece by piece. In Part II, we looked at the mandatory conversion language that is at the heart of any convertible debt financing. Same, except at the option of the noteholders (per the term sheet example above).

Finance 107

Finance Term Sheet Pre-Money Valuation Early Stage 107

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 5, 2016

Don’t quit your day job until the revenue is flowing. Investors expect nothing less than a full-time commitment, even in the early stages when the business model has not yet been proven. Keep later critical financing needs viable. Don’t let early funding increase risk and dilute your potential.

Bootstrapping 120

Bootstrapping Entrepreneur Startup Exit Strategy 120

K9 Ventures

JUNE 12, 2012

Founders typically get their equity in a company once — at the time of founding and then get diluted with each subsequent round of financing. This is because excessive capital becomes toxic for an early stage company. This situation is not always in the best interest of founders.

Venture Capital 117

Venture Capital Silicon Valley Founder Seed Stage 117

View from Seed

JANUARY 26, 2016

There are a number of factors that have contributed to the rise of pre-seed rounds, but the strongest have been the frothy late-stage financing market, coupled with both the scaling-up of some of the early winners in the institutional seed ecosystem and the scaling-down of some larger funds that retrenched after the financial crisis.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Early Stage Cofounder Finance 120

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 20, 2018

Why are you so strongly sold on royalty licensing as the most effective way to finance a tech-based early stage company? Arthur: The usual royalty revenue sharing funding agreement is for an agreed period – and commences on the generation of revenues by the royalty issuer (company licensing the IP.)

IP 54

IP Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Product 54

K9 Ventures

JUNE 12, 2012

Founders typically get their equity in a company once — at the time of founding and then get diluted with each subsequent round of financing. This is because excessive capital becomes toxic for an early stage company. This situation is not always in the best interest of founders.

Venture Capital 105

Venture Capital Silicon Valley Founder Seed Stage 105

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 20, 2018

Why are you so strongly sold on royalty licensing as the most effective way to finance a tech-based early stage company? Arthur: The usual royalty revenue sharing funding agreement is for an agreed period – and commences on the generation of revenues by the royalty issuer (company licensing the IP.)

IP 48

IP Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Product 48

Hunter Walker

JANUARY 15, 2016

I wish I could claim I deftly foresaw this, but I was just seeking recurring revenue to to cover OneMatchFire’s office expenses. By the end of 2004 I had brought on two co-founders: John Vars – who is now the Chief Product Office at TaskRabbit, and Steven Reading took over Sales and Revenue. InVenture is in a really great place.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Startup Cofounder SMS 48

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2012

What I want to talk about today is one of the insider baseball discussions of our industry this past week: The odd fact of the $500 million financing round completed just before the company sold for a B. You just said, “nobody would take 1-2% dilution.” I will weigh in with some thoughts soon. Was this a good thing?

Valuation 316

Valuation Balance Sheet Dilution Term Sheet 316

David Teten

NOVEMBER 17, 2011

I’ve often found it helpful to have on hand a simple model showing the impact of each financing stages on all team members, suitable for sharing with everyone in the company. In particular, this model is designed to help all team members understand the impact of dilution on their options.

Employee 155

Employee IRR Startup Mexico 155

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

For angel groups, the distinction between groups and VCs on this issue is dwindling, especially as angel groups do bigger rounds of financing.   Note that this applies only to earl stage Series A-type equity financings and assumes no cash dividends are paid to investors. .   First , dividends.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

The Startup Lawyer

AUGUST 22, 2011

Here’s a list of the top 5 deal terms that cause harm to startups at the seed financing stage and therefore should be avoided: 5. This is something you might see in a late stage private equity financing with a company that has a history of generating revenue. It does not belong in any early stage deal.

Angel Investor 99

Angel Investor Dividend Dilution Cofounder 99

View from Seed

JUNE 30, 2015

A few weeks ago, Manu Kumar wrote an excellent post detailing the current state of the seed financing landscape. I think it’s also very instructive to know how often the investor leads early rounds and how large those rounds typically are. Over time, the frenzy around momentum and growth stage financing will calm down.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Syndicate Syndication Dilution 120

Gust

SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

It’s like we need a finance 101 course for entrepreneurs. Revenue multiple? In finance they call it “terminal value” but the truth is the price is as arbitrary at your A round as it is at your seed round. And now I have to explain to team that they’re taking more dilution than they expected if we do a down round.

Liquidation Preference 153

Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet Stock 153

Berkonomics

AUGUST 27, 2015

They financed their companies, to the extent possible, in a manner minimizing the cost of capital, planning for organic growth in the number of customers served and in associated revenues. Flippers financed by venture capitalists are more likely to hire executives having high level profiles and previous exit experience.

Intellectual Property 48

Intellectual Property Balance Sheet Stock Options Valuation 48

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

If fixed expenses, especially payroll, are paid out before cash is received from services or shipments, the company is financing its growth with ever-increasing working capital needs. Many great businesses in their growth periods find themselves stretched for cash.

Dilution 66

Dilution Acquisition Early Stage Book Value 66

Up and Running

APRIL 24, 2018

Because of complex government regulations and a lengthy incubation period, funding a healthcare startup is more difficult compared to financing a tech startup. That’s why having a revenue-minded focus from the early stages helps to secure funding.

SBIR 73

SBIR Startup Artificial Inteligence Intellectual Property 73

Business Plan Blog

OCTOBER 4, 2013

This is true for early stage funding as well as venture capital funding. Rather, give titles such as VP of Engineering, Product/Technology, Sales, Marketing, Finance, etc. Having too many co-founders will only lead to your eventual dilution. Early Stage. Don’t make everyone a founder.

Part-Time VPE 79

Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE Cofounder CTO Hire 79

dondodge.typepad.com

JANUARY 15, 2011

Entrepreneurs face some pretty tough questions at a very early stage. How much equity should I grant to early employees? It isnt always possible to have a competitive bidding situation at each financing round so here are some guidelines for funding sources and percentages. Should I take Angel or VC money? 5% Managers -.25%

Equity 40

Equity Employee Dilution Valuation 40

Seeing Both Sides

OCTOBER 24, 2015

Many blogs suggest you simply divide 1 by your monthly churn rate to get to a number of months of duration that you can expect to collect revenues from your customer. Thus, if your average monthly churn rate is "c", the number of months of revenue you will receive over the lifetime of a customer is 1/c. A monthly churn rate of 1%?

Churn Rate 20

Churn Rate Early Stage Revenue Metrics 20

BeyondVC

JUNE 11, 2007

In the last six months, we have augmented some of our existing venture financing with venture debt as the market has become quite competitive which means pricing and terms are getting more attractive for all of us. The trick for entrepreneurs is to look at bringing on debt concurrent or soon after your close of equity financing.

Intellectual Property 60

Intellectual Property Covenant Warrant Equity 60

Professor VC

JUNE 20, 2011

Financing, that is.I One truth of start-up financing is that it generally takes twice as long and twice as much money to accomplish your milestones. But of course, the model had us requiring only $10M equity to breakeven and to achieve $185M in revenues in 2008 (the magic Year 5 in all business plans). ProfessorVC.

San Jose 28

San Jose Angel Investor Term Sheet Venture Capital 28

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

The popularity of convertible notes is increasing in the world of startup financing, especially in seed-stage companies. It is attractive for seed-stage companies that have not had time to show much traction in terms of their product or revenue. For any (early stage) startup, the team is the most critical asset.

Cap Table 112

Cap Table Pre-Money Valuation Stock Options Option Pool 112

abovethecrowd.com

APRIL 20, 2016

Why the Unicorn Financing Market Just Became Dangerous…For All Involved. A high performing, high-growth SAAS company that may have been worth 10 or more times revenue was suddenly worth 4-7 times revenue. By the first quarter of 2016, the late-stage financing market had changed materially.

IPO 40

IPO Term Sheet Silicon Valley Valuation 40

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

I would focus on one product and set a goal to generate $1M in yearly revenue from it. Outsourcing is something a big company, with a known customer / problem (that has revenue & traction) does to save cost. If you believe in it – then finance whatever you can yourself. When it comes to early stage investing – it’s all gut.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

Up and Running

JULY 14, 2015

Peter: Techstars is probably the most famous accelerator but the idea of the accelerator versus the incubator because there is living field, because there’s this very early stage fields for them both. The cool thing is with the device like, that with the science like that, there’s a lot of early stage proving ground needed.

Incubator 60

Incubator Email Startup Oregon 60