Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2010

How much dilution should I take for it?&# My friend’s company was pre-revenue. Me: “Zero dilution. But to be clear the overwhelming majority of deals involve one company driving the cultural integration, establishment of uniform processes, hiring / firing decisions, etc. They often involve big hugs on stage.

Merger 276

Merger Technical Review Early Stage Dilution 276

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

The most obvious way to explain this is with sales people. If you hire 6 senior sales reps in January at $120,000 / year salary then you’ve taken on an extra $60,000 per month in costs yet these sales people might not close new business 6 months. The Nature of Revenue Matters Of course revenue alone won’t tell you enough.

Stock Options 227

Stock Options Startup Dilution Venture Capital 227

YoungUpstarts

MAY 6, 2019

What market are you targeting and how are you going to get sales? How much revenue are you generating on an annual basis? If you are getting funded for the first time, which means that you have not diluted the shares of your company, you will be receiving Series A funding. Hiring more resources. Is there an exit strategy?

Startup 113

Startup Technical Cofounder Merger Early Stage 113

Duct Tape Marketing

OCTOBER 11, 2023

But what the dilution, if you bring it down to it that even creator entertainers and educators have in common is it's this human element. Christie Horsman (05:43): Yeah, I think the only pitfalls I see when looking for, I think hiring creator influencers to represent your brand is great. Is there a better way?

B2B 80

B2B Marketing B2C Community 80

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. You’ll be inundated with sales pitches, lame template emails, unsolicited voicemails and more. Know when to say “no.”.

Cofounder 100

Cofounder Balance Sheet Small Business Administration Technical Review 100

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

In many instances, you raise an institutional round to either fulfill a product strategy or go-to-market strategy or you’re increasing sales and marketing hires, so you have better visibility into what needs to happen in the next six, 12, 18 months. Traction and revenue? NVV: Is there any dilution? Business model?

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

Then you can do a little bit of research and find out that very few companies ever achieve this valuation in a trade sale so you’re clearly gunning for an IPO. million post-money valuation with no revenue. They did an inside round, spent a bunch of money and then went through a fire sale of the business less than 2 years later.

Pre-Money Valuation 336

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Stock 336

The Startup Magazine

JULY 1, 2022

The three main components of a company are production or service, marketing and sales, and finance. Production or service is the business’s core activity, which generates revenue. Marketing and sales are how you reach and sell to your target market. A business is an organization that produces goods or services for profit.

Technology 136

Technology Venture Capital Finance Startup 136

www.avc.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

The most common comment in this long and complicated MBA Mondays series on Employee Equity is the question of how much equity should you grant when you make a hire. For your first key hires, three, five, maybe as much as ten, you will probably not be able to use any kind of formula. First, a caveat. x $125k which is equal to $31.25k.

Equity 64

Equity Employee CTO Hire Fractional CTO 64

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

Austin Startup

NOVEMBER 12, 2017

If you have a sales model that involves relationship selling to high-level decision makers, you can be sure they would prefer a detailed proposal from you with a request to “sign here.” Is third-year revenue of $10M good or bad? There’s no baby step analogy to the pilots discussed above for a sales situation.

Term Sheet 48

Term Sheet Technical Review Due Diligence Merger 48

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 20, 2018

Would I hire a broker? These are your candidates, because they are companies already absorbing much or all the marketing expense necessary to make sales of your invention. That party is only concerned with its royalty revenues and growth – and not profit from or valuation of its business. Investment banker? Do it myself?

IP 54

IP Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Product 54

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 20, 2018

Would I hire a broker? These are your candidates, because they are companies already absorbing much or all the marketing expense necessary to make sales of your invention. That party is only concerned with its royalty revenues and growth – and not profit from or valuation of its business. Investment banker? Do it myself?

IP 48

IP Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Product 48

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 17, 2018

" Revenue doesn't pay your bills, GM does  —  @msuster 2/ Founders obsess with revenue as a vanity metric. Some even grow "bad" revenue just to show growth. But if you want to add some in the comments section on Medium and I’ll make sure to read them.

Founder 242

Founder Dilution Software Review Later Stage 242

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2011

A great recent example of this was a successful group of entrepreneurs who had created a company that will do $10-12 million in revenue at their system integration business (read: services business) in 2011 after having done $5 million or so in 2010 and $2-3 million in 2009. But it might not. Why Build a Services Business in the First Place?

Silicon Valley 332

Silicon Valley IP Dividend Finance 332

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 7, 2020

Great content can last for decades and become a reliable revenue engine and act as a pillar for other content. Content marketing builds brand, engages new audiences, inspires trust, and respect… but does it increase sales? Create a Robust Sales Pipeline. Here are the steps of a sales pipeline: Lead generation is about exposure.

B2C 78

B2C B2B Dilution Architecture 78

Austin Startup

JANUARY 11, 2020

It’s now the #1 non-dilutive source of capital for businesses to continue to grow and scale, but it’s highly overlooked. Our biggest goal to date has been to drive more revenue and connect with startup companies, but our primary channel is actually focused on serving accounting firms. What is the current goal you’re aiming to achieve?

CPA 62

CPA Startup Non-Compete Cofounder 62

Up and Running

APRIL 18, 2013

This structure is targeted on businesses that do high credit card sales volume. Revenue-based finance. RBF is an entrepreneur-friendly loan, where repayments are based on a percentage of monthly revenue. The model features no equity dilution, no personal guarantees and much less strict financial controls than a bank loan.

Small Business 89

Small Business Finance Dilution Equity 89

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2019

Investors bet that by offering prospective hires a stake in the company’s future growth- with a visible time horizon of a payoff – employees would act more like owners and work harder– and that would align employee interests with the investor interests. That made sense.

Stock Options 333

Stock Options Stock Vesting Common Stock 333

Up and Running

NOVEMBER 5, 2018

Two essential lists: Startup costs normally include startup expenses and startup assets: Startup expenses: These are expenses that happen before you launch and start bringing in any revenue. And it interferes with the estimates and dilutes their value. Second, money to be spent on operating expenses and buying inventory.

Cost 150

Cost Balance Sheet Startup Intellectual Property 150

Ben's Blog

APRIL 1, 2011

Organizational design, process design, metrics, hiring and firing were all relatively straightforward skills to master compared to keeping my mind in check. As the founding CEO, every hire and every decision that the company ever made happened under my direction. Raise money in a highly dilutive way. It kind of sucked to be me.

Management 78

Management Cap Table Balance Sheet Bankruptcy 78

Up and Running

MAY 21, 2015

What this means, is that he gets paid not as a portion of the profit, but as a portion of the overall revenue, regardless of the profit. They generally also get additional rights that common shareholders don’t get, such as anti-dilution protection, and liquidation preference (discussed further below). Anti-dilution protection.

Covenant 60

Covenant Liquidation Preference Ratchet Dilution 60

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2010

My original post was directed at hiring managers. It said that I didn’t believe it was a good idea to hire job hoppers. My view still stands – for many hiring managers a large factor in looking through resumes of somebody who is 30+ and has never worked somewhere for more than 18 months will be the job hopping element.

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Hiring Software Review Stock Options 285

Up and Running

APRIL 24, 2018

For example, having flexible work hours means you can hire talented candidates from different time zones, which will increase your productivity while keeping the costs down. Hiring an in-house legal counsel or consulting with an experienced law firm specializing in healthcare law is probably the best solution.

SBIR 73

SBIR Startup Artificial Inteligence Intellectual Property 73

Startup Company Lawyer

MAY 4, 2009

June 23rd, 2009: Create a revenue model for your business. How to scale from the first sale to the millionth. Hiring and Firing. July 14th, 2009: Implement hiring policies and practices. Description: When to hire and when to fire? How to hire the best vendors for the best rates. Description: How to get it.

Founder 28

Founder Warrant San Francisco Intellectual Property 28

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

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 24, 2009

When I reviewed a recent product development book, it immediately shot up to Amazon sales rank 300. And as everyone’s attention starts to focus on those same indicators, their value is being diluted. What is the right revenue model? Is that a lot? Is that good? In other words, what is the minimum viable product ?

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Lean Technical Review Distribution 113

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

They feel the money can and should be spent on ways to grow the company, so they shift into growth mode by hiring more employees, paying themselves, hiring salespeople, running paid ad campaigns, and spending on overhead. You’re basically tinkering with everything at this stage – product, marketing, sales, partnerships, etc.

Metrics 136

Metrics Cofounder Cram Down Liquidity Event 136

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2016

From Aspiration to Hero For companies that do have that moment of success where everything seems to come together: funding, hiring, customers, PR, product releases and so forth — you have a “hero” moment where you feel invincible. 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

Duct Tape Marketing

APRIL 7, 2022

Look, if you work in sales, wanna learn how to sell, and frankly who doesn't check out the sales podcast, where host Will Barron helps sales professionals learn how to find buyers and win big business ineffective and ethical ways. So I'm also maybe a little French too, that might have helped. Marcel Petitpas (01:46): I like it.

Cofounder 76

Cofounder Hosting Networking Software Review 76

crowdSPRING Blog

OCTOBER 30, 2018

It is a key factor in the success and prosperity of all businesses and nonprofits, regardless of their revenues. It directly affects your ability to sell, to fundraise, to hire the best employees, and to grow. If your brand tries to be too many things at once, the message becomes scattered and the brand grows diluted.

Small Business 55

Small Business Metrics Social Media Audience 55

Small Business Force

JANUARY 14, 2016

It is also less understood than it should be, with dilution and control issues being major points of concern. The point of it was that with any kind of equity distribution, dilution will always occur. The % of equity you own is far less important than the value of that equity. Real world example of valuation Your 80% is now worth $5.6

Equity 20

Equity Dilution Distribution Valuation 20

Business Plan Blog

OCTOBER 4, 2013

Don’t hire people with skills and qualifications similar to yours. 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. Hire based on functionality and avoid having too many C’s.

Part-Time VPE 79

Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE Cofounder CTO Hire 79

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2021

These are usually characterized as owner-operated, with five employees or less, and less than $250,000 in sales. According to the Voice of Microenterprise (AEO) website, if one in three micro-enterprises in the United States hired an additional employee, the US would soon be at full employment. Do you love antiquing?

Entrepreneur 304

Entrepreneur United States Dilution .Net 304

Seeing Both Sides

JANUARY 4, 2012

After three or four years of jamming on your start-up, you've finally crossed a few million in revenue, gotten north of 10-20 employees, and it's all starting to click. Human Capital Strategy: Hire Grownups vs. Stay Young. Scaling is hard. Now the pressure really begins. Obviously, it's not that easy a decision.

Lean 53

Lean Dilution Revenue Hiring 53

Occam's Razor

MAY 2, 2017

The very best analysts distill, rather than dilute. Outcomes: Revenue | Ideas Funded Behavior: Path Length | Cart Abandonment Rate Acquisition: Assisted Conversions | Share of Search. Every ecommerce site has to obsess about Revenue. B2B / Enterprise Sales: Salesforce. And, we can do so much for them!

Metrics 141

Metrics Acquisition eCommerce Analytics 141

www.startupnorth.ca

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Being an early hire at a startup gives an individual the ability to make tremendous impact on an organization as it grows – and both the founders and those hires should know it.” This should force companies to think about building value with each early hire, and not just filling a position. It’s just unfeasible.

Employee 41

Employee Founder Salary Equity 41