Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Don’t expect them to believe your $100M revenue projection, if you are still waiting for the first revenue dollar. Get a real customer and real revenue. It doesn’t prove your business model of pricing, distribution, and support. Without revenue, your investors are largely limited to friends, family and fools.

Intellectual Property 281

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Sweat Equity CTO Hire 281

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

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

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

Among these opportunities, the chance to pitch an investor and secure funding is perhaps the greatest of all — at least in the early stages of your startup career — as it can ultimately determine the long-term fate of your company. You may be able to generate revenue, but VCs want exponential growth. Be ready when it counts.

Technical Review 140

Technical Review Due Diligence Early Stage Differentiation 140

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

As an early-stage VC I love this phase. We realized that operating a business in distributed markets presented multi-city coordination efforts that we weren’t prepared for. were more distributed. 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

AUGUST 31, 2012

Don’t expect them to believe your $100M revenue projection, if you are still waiting for the first revenue dollar. Get a real customer and real revenue. It doesn’t prove your business model of pricing, distribution, and support. Without revenue, your investors are largely limited to friends, family and fools.

Intellectual Property 260

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 260

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2016

LPs have been feeling great about venture capital due to holding valuable paper positions in companies like Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, Dropbox, all of which they feel confident will drive large cash distributions in the future. LPs See The Over-Valuations and Don’t Like It. The Biggest Area of Concern is Late Stage Investments.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital LP Silicon Valley Marketing 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2011

Don’t expect them to believe your $100M revenue projection, if you are still waiting for the first revenue dollar. Get a real customer and real revenue. It doesn’t prove your business model of pricing, distribution, and support. Without revenue, your investors are largely limited to friends, family and fools.

Intellectual Property 253

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 253

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

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. Not all startups need outside investment to grow.

Cofounder 429

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 429

David Teten

MARCH 18, 2021

A typical VC thesis: “we invest in tech startups in Europe at an early stage” However, our experience shows that in many cases: . Thirty-four VC firms in OpenVC call themselves “early-stage” Yet, 30% of those don’t actually invest in pre-revenue startups. Valuation: $1M – $3M.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Cofounder Venture Capital Deal Flow 78

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2010

Don’t expect them to believe your $100M revenue projection, if you are still waiting for the first revenue dollar. Get a real customer and real revenue. It doesn’t prove your business model of pricing, distribution, and support. Without revenue, your investors are largely limited to friends, family and fools.

Intellectual Property 222

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 222

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Data companies focused on early-stage startups include Aingel , fundsUP , Preseries , PredictLeads , and Sploda. The Pocket Negotiator is very early-stage attempt to aid in the negotiating process itself. Lighter Capital, a Revenue Based Investing VC, offers a Cost of Capital Calculator. 7) Negotiate .

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Greycroft is an early-stage VC. Founded in November 2007 in New York City by Alexis Maybank and Kevin Ryan (co-founder of DoubleClick); CEO is Susan Lyne (ex-CEO Marta Stewart Living Omnimedia) Revenue estimates: $50mm in 2008; $170mm in 2009 (versus budget of $150mm); $450mm forecasted for 2010. OTHER DEALS: 1.

Partner 240

Partner New York City Cofounder Syndicate 240

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

Term-sheets and Valuations: Thinking about Negotiations.   I’ve sat down with entrepreneurs and a copy of a term sheet guide I like [ “Term Sheets & Valuations - A Line by Line Look at the Intricacies of Venture Capital Term Sheets & Valuations ” by Alex Wilmerding, Aspatore Press.] The Valuation Question.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

VC Adventure

MAY 5, 2022

How many of those valuations will hold remains to be seen, but that kind of market clearly advantaged funds that deployed capital very quickly. Gone was the J-curve (named because often early fund returns are negative – mostly due to fees that drag down NAV prior to initial company write-ups). Many will not. But not now.

IRR 116

IRR Metrics Valuation LP 116

Up and Running

JUNE 14, 2017

Early stage idea validation can be accomplished without building an application. Then, about two weeks before launch, I distributed a survey to those 256 partners. But when I ran the numbers, the revenue from just the first three months from the 150 who were interested in premium would cover the investment and more.

Technical Review 96

Technical Review Distribution Redemption Demand 96

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 9, 2013

If you’re a venture-backed tech company or even an early-stage business fueled by angel or seed money I assume you have a good group of board members or advisors who will give you time to be helpful and they want to be helpful. Deal with company admin: 409a valuations, approve stock options, vote on key measures (15%).

Advisory Board 337

Advisory Board Valuation Stock Options Seed Money 337

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2016

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 120

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Preferred Stock Seed Stage 120

Up and Running

JULY 22, 2019

A telling success factor for new businesses looking to make an impact in their industries is whether they can attract investment at an early stage of development. . Attracting investors in the early stages helps bring in new partners that are committed to your business. Start early. Build your profile.

Canada 78

Canada Early Stage Valuation Finance 78

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

But with the help of Grahams company, which specializes in creating tech systems for start-ups, Jumpstart grew to more than $50 million in revenue--enough to make it an attractive acquisition for media conglomerate Hachette Filipacchi. Arizona Bay has also blended equity payments with revenue-sharing deals. Graham liked the idea.

Arizona 40

Arizona Equity Iowa Venture Capital 40

abovethecrowd.com

APRIL 20, 2016

One key to this population growth has been the remarkable ease of the Unicorn fundraising process: Pick a new valuation well above your last one, put together a presentation deck, solicit offers, and watch the hundreds of million of dollars flow into your bank account. By January of 2016, that number had ballooned to 229.

IPO 40

IPO Term Sheet Silicon Valley Valuation 40

Eric Friedman

AUGUST 18, 2021

He is also co-founder and Managing Partner of Deciens Capital, an early stage investment fund. They talk about] businesses which are not contractually recurring revenue in the parlance of recurring revenue run rates. Today, we are lucky to welcome Dan Kimerling of Deciens Capital. That scares me.

Silicon Valley 88

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Cofounder Africa 88

NZ Entrepreneur

JULY 8, 2019

In the first of a three part series on early stage business investment, we asked serial entrepreneur and investor Josh Comrie what three key things New Zealand entrepreneurs must get better at when it comes to seeking angel investment. So, I went deep (currently sitting at 26 different early-stage ventures). Valuations.

New Zealand 42

New Zealand Entrepreneur Valuation Dilution 42

K9 Ventures

APRIL 9, 2014

Massive late stage rounds The late stage (Series B and Series C) investors are hunting for breakout companies that have serious traction. The low supply and high demand is driving up the valuations and deal sizes. Threshold for an IPO is higher Ten years ago, if you had $20M in revenue you were ready to go public.

Mezzanine 134

Mezzanine Seed Stage Early Stage IPO 134

The Equity Kicker

MAY 14, 2012

There are certain types of events that investors look to as evidence that a company has overcome certain challenges and has therefore reduced risk in the business and become deserving of a higher valuation. achieving first revenues. breaking through revenue thresholds – e.g. run-rates of £1m, £5m, £20m and so on.

Finance 118

Finance Valuation Venture Capital Dilution 118

View from Seed

JUNE 30, 2015

As a founder, I think it’s easier to talk to potential investors about where they invest across the lifecycle of a company (whether it’s truly early-stage/early lifecycle, for instance), versus round stages like seed, series A, etc. Almost all VCs actually invest across this spectrum.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Syndicate Syndication Dilution 120

Seeing Both Sides

SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

Only a handful of so-called unicorns — companies that have achieved a valuation of over $1 billion in the last 10 years — come from Israel, and only one Israeli firm, Teva, ranks in the world’s 500 largest companies by market capitalization. That’s the good news. The bad news is that Israeli startups are struggling to scale.

Cofounder 20

Cofounder Technical Review United States 20

pandodaily.com

NOVEMBER 29, 2012

This time around, there has been an explosion at the early stages, and the very late pre-IPO growth stages. “The real winners here are going to be the seed funds and early stage VCs that can write a $1 million to $2 million check,” says AngelList co-founder Naval Ravikant. Now it’s glutted.

Technical Review 93

Technical Review Silicon Valley Incubator Syria 93

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 13, 2012

He is on the board of the Angel Resource Institute, and is a partner with Montlake Capital (a late stage growth capital fund) and with Revenue Capital Management (a royalty based lender). Conventional wisdom dictated that they made reckless investments in very early-stage ventures mostly doomed to fail. Only they’re not.

Angel Investor 103

Angel Investor Venture Capital Seed Stage Silicon Valley 103

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

I have come to believe during my time as an operator, entrepreneur and investor that the balance of these skills is so important to the long-term health of a business that if balance is not achieved early then the impact later can be profound - sometimes terminal. They are many more examples. My question is one of timing for the distributor.

Technical Review 51

Technical Review Startup CTO Hire Cofounder 51

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

It appears that LTV should be about 3 x CAC for a viable SaaS or other form of recurring revenue model. recurring revenue) are illustrated in the diagram below: Lessons Learned – Ways to reduce customer acquisition costs Conversion rates play an extremely important role in your customer acquisition cost. I appreciate your input!

Acquisition 103

Acquisition Cost Customer Entrepreneur 103

Up and Running

DECEMBER 9, 2014

Two, revenue. Many business owners today really think of financials as being about the past, how much revenue have we had, how much cost did we have. Inaudible 00:27:51] leading indicator to help you know where your revenue will be over the coming weeks and months but you can actually apply the same concept on the cost side as well.

Small Business 95

Small Business Finance Forecast Metrics 95

www.readwriteweb.com

OCTOBER 18, 2010

These are areas that may be gaps in the portfolio of large companies, and are perfect for M&A deals in three to five years after building enough validation and $10-$20 million in revenue. Raymond has built a nice business through efficient distribution deals and will do about $250,000 in revenue this year.

Marketing 52

Marketing Bootstrapping Incubator Angel Investor 52

www.readwriteweb.com

OCTOBER 18, 2010

These are areas that may be gaps in the portfolio of large companies, and are perfect for M&A deals in three to five years after building enough validation and $10-$20 million in revenue. Raymond has built a nice business through efficient distribution deals and will do about $250,000 in revenue this year.

Marketing 52

Marketing Bootstrapping Incubator Angel Investor 52

Professor VC

JUNE 20, 2011

The business model (OEM through broadband and home security companies for mass distribution) if not specific product functionality has remained largely the same. 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).

San Jose 28

San Jose Angel Investor Term Sheet Venture Capital 28