David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

From RBI, Flexible VCs borrow the ability to reap meaningful returns without demanding founders build for an exit. Every Flexible VC structure allows founders to access immediate risk capital while preserving exit, growth trajectory, and ownership optionality. . Flexible VC 102: Variations.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2010

One of the biggest mistakes I see early-stage startups making is hiring “seasoned&# sales professionals or hiring people too senior, too early. I see way too many startup founders who don’t have experience in selling and probably don’t feel that comfortable going to customers and asking for orders.

Hiring 346

Hiring Sales Startup Early Stage 346

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. Employees: 20.

Partner 240

Partner New York City Cofounder Syndicate 240

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

A good early-stage CEO needs to be accessible, to be accountable for producing results and should be establishing the cultural norms of the company through direct leadership at all levels. This applies to both founders and to VC’s that work with them. But I work hard not to “skip&# below the CEO or founders.

CTO Hire 308

CTO Hire Management Technical Review Part-Time VPE 308

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2014

Specifically what is often not in the DNA of founders are sales skills. Nor do they exist in the investors of early-stage companies. Founders think in options. And when you get their forecasts they’re always sandbagged. Most technology startups seem to be funded by product people or business people.

Sales 382

Sales Startup Technical Review Matching 382

NZ Entrepreneur

JUNE 21, 2022

Welcome to ‘500 Founders’ where we ask startup founders and innovators from around New Zealand, What is one piece of advice you would give to people working on their first startup and why? Tina Chou – Founder. ” Dean Brown – Founder. Thomas Clyma – Cofounder. TheTestMart. Triage-Plus.

Founder 88

Founder Cap Table Cofounder New Zealand 88

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 27, 2018

As part of The Startup Magazine founder interview series , we talked with Travis Batiza, the founder of AssuredLeads, a sales and marketing platform serving the insurance industry. My co-founder, Taylor Stinchfield, and I helped build a rapidly-growing insurance agency prior to founding AssuredLeads. Great advice.

Founder 98

Founder Sales Cofounder Early Stage 98

Steve Blank

MARCH 17, 2020

Next, take a look at your actual revenue each month – not forecast, but real revenue coming in each month. If you’re an early stage company, that number may be zero. If so, whatever revenue forecast and sales cycle estimates you had are no longer valid. Are your customers closing for the next few weeks? Laying off people?

Burn Rate 436

Burn Rate Startup Valuation Sales Cycle 436

Up and Running

OCTOBER 1, 2019

There’s a lot to be said for youthful energy, but early-stage small businesses and startups can leverage the value of experience as well. Nobody wants to think about legal trouble when they launch their business, but no founder can afford to ignore this very real potential pitfall of starting a company.

Hiring 77

Hiring Technical Review Small Business Forecast 77

YoungUpstarts

JULY 27, 2020

by Michael Sipe, author of “ The AVADA Principle ” and founder of 10x Catalyst Groups. Spikes in infections in many states, double-digit unemployment, consumer and lender concerns, and steep economic challenges in the wake of a long shutdown make it difficult to forecast if and when many companies will fully recover.

Merger 205

Merger Forecast Early Stage Small Business 205

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

In venture capital in particular, early-stage companies are often operating in frontier industries, where the rules are unpredictable and conventional analytic frameworks may be misleading. Signal is a fundraising tool for founders run by NFX Guild, which identifies the most relevant VCs for you. . Pitchbot.vc

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Up and Running

MARCH 11, 2015

This is the home of Jason Cohen, software startup founder, bootstrapper, investor, and mentor. Jason does an excellent job explaining the math behind more complex subscription forecasting, but also touches on topics like marketing and company culture. As co-founder of Y Combinator and co-founder of the Viaweb which sold to Yahoo!

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Technical Review Silicon Valley Cofounder 60

Eric Friedman

JANUARY 23, 2022

I finalized my notes for the ODX Accelerator program, the early stage accelerator I am building at On Deck , and I wanted to summarize here. I love the start of programs, when teams are excited – all at the earliest stages of company creation. What equity you give early stage advisors matters. Fundraising.

Early Stage 78

Early Stage Equity .Net Vesting 78

www.entrepreneur.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

Franchises Franchises Home Franchise 500 Home-Based Low Cost Top New Fast Growing Top Global Biz Opportunities Franchises for Sale Franchises A Bright Forecast for a Solar Panel Installation Franchise. Sweat equity is just one component of early-stage valuation. Franchises Beware of Song Birds When Doing Homework on a Franchise.

Sweat Equity 55

Sweat Equity Equity Fractional CTO CTO 55

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

Many assume it was a cakewalk, based on the success LinkedIn has enjoyed over time and the current stature of our founder/CEO Reid Hoffman (now Chairman). I thought I’d revisit it and share the story… First, you have to rewind mentally to early 2003. But keep in mind at this point Reid’s a first-time CEO.

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

Specifically what is often not in the DNA of founders are sales skills. Nor do they exist in the investors of early-stage companies. And when you get their forecasts they’re always sandbagged. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch. My first startup was no different. It’s always too high.

Sales 316

Sales Technical Review Matching Hiring 316

Gust

JANUARY 4, 2012

I’d like to take a step back and discuss the significance of IP as a component of the overall value that founders intend to create as they grow the company. The questions that arise most with respect to any category of IP at the earliest stages include: How will this affect our chances of getting funded on favorable terms ?

Intellectual Property 143

Intellectual Property IP Startup United States 143

OnlyOnce

SEPTEMBER 8, 2022

In most startups, the founder is the first salesperson and while it may be difficult to let that go you’ll eventually scale, add sales reps, or maybe some form of a Sales Manager once there are more than a couple of reps. ( Post 1 of 4 in the series on Scaling CROs). You can find this post on the Bolster blog here ).

Revenue 62

Revenue Hiring Forecast Early Stage 62

Austin Startup

JUNE 22, 2020

Far too often, founders spend inordinate time talking to angels and VCs trying to convince them of their vision, commitment and results. The phrase, “missionaries, not mercenaries,” applies just as equally to early-stage investors as employees. How could a company only six months old have $600k in revenue this month?

Vertical 64

Vertical Early Stage Forecast Revenue 64

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 14, 2011

a group of entrepreneurs from TiE Chennai gathered at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) Research Park campus, and we spent the next four hours discussing strategy and tactics of early-stage entrepreneurship. At 11 a.m., The value proposition is well articulated, validated, and very clean. Quantum Arc.

India 126

India Technical Review Entrepreneur Silicon Valley 126

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 26, 2012

Two founders have spent $200K of personal and family funds over a one year period to start the company, get a prototype site up and running, and have already generated some “buzz” in the Internet community. On the other hand, if the pre-money valuation is $4M, the founders ownership remains at a healthy 80% level.

Valuation 270

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation NPV Intellectual Property 270

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 31, 2012

It is with this backdrop that I was really happy to learn from my friend Ethan Anderson (HBS alum & founder of RedBeacon) about an awesome program at HBS run by Tom Eisenmann called Launching Technology Ventures. However, I advocate a more nuanced approach for early-stage startup teams” 1. Specifically, 1.

Startup 319

Startup Early Stage Sales Cofounder 319

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 26, 2022

The past year was a wild ride for startups and founders, giving a whole new meaning to the ”rollercoaster” aspect of being an entrepreneur. For more about forecasting growth in these uncertain times, check out Sequoia’s “ Adapting to Endure ” presentations published in May 2022. Bill Gates , founder of Microsoft.

Founder 187

Founder Startup Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 187

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

Two founders have spent $200K of personal and family funds over a one year period to start the company, get a prototype site up and running, and have already generated some “buzz” in the Internet community. On the other hand, if the pre-money valuation is $4M, the founders ownership remains at a healthy 80% level.

Pre-Money Valuation 246

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation NPV Intellectual Property 246

OnlyOnce

JUNE 9, 2022

” So I was intrigued when I saw a new way of doing all-hands meetings published by my friend Daniel Odio (DROdio) on his founder community called FounderCulture. But for early stage companies, there’s no tried-and-true method. Sometimes other founders write these. I call it “plagiarizing with pride.”

Cofounder 62

Cofounder Hosting Forecast Early Stage 62

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 12, 2011

When we were last with Dick and Jane on Finance Fridays, our fearless entrepreneurs were figuring out how to split up their founders equity and account for an investment from Jane. Build a financial model that forecasts the P&L. QuickBooks allows you to forecast expenses. as a C-Corp in Delaware. historical data).

Balance Sheet 136

Balance Sheet Forecast Cap Table Early Stage 136

SoCal CTO

MAY 19, 2010

In his recent post, Top 10 Ways to Win a Business Plan Competition , he says: #4 I wanted to push this further down the list, but I just bristle at this: the revenue forecast. Remember my day job, I'm past Chairman of the Tech Coast Angels and I see a lot of pitches with revenue forecasts. These are so detached from reality.

Hockey Stick 205

Hockey Stick NPV IRR Valuation 205

Up and Running

MAY 3, 2012

And besides, obtaining early-stage investment is no guarantee of success, either. We need to insist that they set goals and milestones, create cash flow forecasts and devise ways to test their assumptions. ??We -based venture capital fund had just invested in 17 companies. Surely we can do better?

Entrepreneur 82

Entrepreneur Technical Review Silicon Valley Lean 82

Gust

NOVEMBER 18, 2012

Two founders have spent $200K of personal and family funds over a one year period to start the company, get a prototype site up and running, and have already generated some “buzz” in the Internet community. On the other hand, if the pre-money valuation is $4M, the founders ownership remains at a healthy 80% level.

Valuation 187

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation NPV Intellectual Property 187

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 6, 2010

Two founders have spent $200K of personal and family funds over a one year period to start the company, get a prototype site up and running, and have already generated some “buzz” in the Internet community. On the other hand, if the pre-money valuation is $4M, the founders ownership remains at a healthy 80% level.

Valuation 234

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation NPV Startup 234

VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 2, 2019

Forecasting is sometimes done by dragging the mouse based on many assumptions, because it’s hard to predict the future. One question that keeps coming up when speaking with early stage entrepreneurs when it comes to funding, is what metrics the company needs to hit to raise seed/series A/B etc: What’s a good conversion rate?

B2C 141

B2C Technical Review Startup Retention 141

genylabs.typepad.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Tracking and Forecasting the Trends Impacting the Future of Small Business. Before you agree to take equity in lieu of cash, you need to understand that any individual early stage start-up company equity is most likely going to be worthless. what rights and preferences the founders and the other investors have.

Equity 40

Equity Technical Review San Jose Stock 40

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

“If you can fix a problem for someone and do it better, quicker, and/or cheaper than your competitor, you’re off to a good start.” – Gabriel Kuperman, founder and CEO of CuePin. We created UpKeep to fill this void—a cloud-based solution that was affordable for any size business.” – Ryan Chan, founder of UpKeep.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

There’s no doubt (at least anecdotally) that the pace of VC investments in early-stage technology companies has picked up in the past few months. I hear from several sources that Sequoia is very active in the market aggressively chasing several deals and even driving up prices on some early-stage deals.

IPO 255

IPO Investment Bankers Venture Capital Marketing 255

NZ Entrepreneur

OCTOBER 10, 2019

Early stage business investors such as angel investors or venture capital companies are generally only interested in companies with great potential for success and a high return on investment. It is also important to inspire the investor in regards to the people behind the idea – the founders and the entrepreneurial team.

Business Plan 51

Business Plan Forecast Venture Capital Angel Investor 51

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

One can even make the case that getting Market Type right is the most valuable thing a marketer can do to add value and affect success in an early stage venture. So founders might be tempted to first shoot the arrow and then draw the target around it, by choosing the ‘soft’ metrics that puts them in the best light.

Customer Development 228

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 228

Up and Running

JULY 26, 2016

This is what our hiring landscape looked like over the past year: Pre-2015, we hired three founders: 1x hustler in charge of strategic growth hacking. See Also: A Complete Guide to Forecasting Sales for Your Monthly Subscription (SaaS) Business. 1x hacker in charge of product/development. Lean marketing. Masterful onboarding (cheap).

Revenue 60

Revenue Acquisition Channel Campaign 60