Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2023

Early stage burn rates over $50K per month, or a runway of less than six months may indicate an inefficient or desperate startup. If the company has been around for more than a couple of years, and still has no product or revenue flow, there better be a good explanation. Think twice before you jump in.

Sweat Equity 207

Sweat Equity Burn Rate Technical Review Intellectual Property 207

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

So you’re interested in raising capital from a Revenue-Based Investor VC. A new wave of Revenue-Based Investors (“RBI”) are emerging. For background, see Revenue-Based Investing: A New Option for Founders who Care About Control. Rational burn profile, up to 50% of revenue at close, scaling down. Bigfoot Capital.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 4, 2019

by Bruce Cleveland, Founding Partner at Wildcat Venture Partners and author of “ Traversing the Traction Gap “ As we continue our exploration of the Traction Gap Framework® – a step-by-step approach that startup teams can use to go from ideation to preparing to scale – I will walk you through the principles.

Framework 127

Framework Architecture Cleveland Early Stage 127

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

A new wave of Revenue-Based Investors are emerging who are using creative investing structures with some of the upside of traditional VC, but some of the downside protection of debt. I believe that Revenue-Based Investing (“RBI”) VCs are on the forefront of what will become a major segment of the venture ecosystem.

Revenue 60

Revenue Term Sheet Founder Technical Review 60

YoungUpstarts

MAY 24, 2019

by Bruce Cleveland, Founding Partner at Wildcat Venture Partners and author of “ Traversing the Traction Gap “ As we continue our exploration of the Traction Gap Framework® – a step-by-step approach that startup teams can use to go from ideation to preparing to scale – I will walk you through the principles.

Framework 113

Framework Architecture Cleveland Early Stage 113

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Our guest this week on #TWiVC was Dana Settle , partner at Greycroft Partners , a venture capital firm with offices in New York and Los Angeles. Greycroft is an early-stage VC. Note that these are “gross” revenue numbers. CEO hinted to WSJ that it may go public in early 2011. OTHER DEALS: 1.

Partner 240

Partner New York City Cofounder Syndicate 240

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2020

In addition to being the startup entrepreneur, there are other key roles where Boomers can be a force in driving successful startups, in concert with leaders from Gen-X and Gen-Y: Early-stage angel investors. Often the Boomer is more willing to work for equity, and easily convinced to step aside when revenues reach that next threshold.

Advisory Board 312

Advisory Board Startup Dividend Angel Investor 312

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 1, 2023

As an early-stage company that just closed our seed round at $8.1 We’re hitting record revenue months, weeks, and margins. So what does an early-stage company do to avoid the doom and gloom plaguing the world of startups? That includes us. And you know what we found?

Early Stage 110

Early Stage Los Angeles Silicon Valley Cofounder 110

ReadWriteStart

DECEMBER 15, 2022

Client work serves as an additional source of revenue to form new startups. This outside work provides a valuable source of revenue able to be used to fund operations. Over time, this revenue reduces the dependency on outside venture capital sources. It also provides critical domain experience in a variety of business sectors.

Incubator 188

Incubator Startup Software Developers Software Development 188

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 19, 2013

The line of reasoning goes, “Services businesses are not scalable and the market won’t reward this revenue so make sure that third-parties do your implementation or clients do it themselves. We only want software revenue.” If you’re an early-stage enterprise startup services revenue is exactly what you need.

Technical Review 403

Technical Review Software Review Startup API 403

techcrunch.com

AUGUST 12, 2012

Zachary Bogue And Matt Ocko Launch Data Collective, An Early Stage Fund For Big Data Startups. Data Collective has already made 46 investments from its first fund, which it calls “comparable with other seed and early stage funds” (Ocko and Bogue wouldn’t reveal fund size.). Headphones. CrunchBase.

Early Stage 70

Early Stage San Francisco Los Angeles Southern California 70

Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2014

Companies manage these three types of innovation with an innovation portfolio – they build innovation internally, they buy it or they partner with resources outside their company. buy out an entire company for its revenue and profits. buy out an entire company for its revenue and profits. Five Types of Innovation to Buy.

Acquisition 332

Acquisition Intellectual Property Silicon Valley Startup 332

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

(co-written with Jamie Finney, Founding Partner at Greater Colorado Venture Fund. More and more startups are pursuing Revenue-Based VCs , but “RBI” doesn’t fit everyone. Flexible VC 101: Equity Meets Revenue Share. His work on VC and small communities can be found at greatercolorado.vc/blog. Of the Inc. 5000 companies, only 6.5%

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

Understanding where your VC partner sits in their respective fund and where their fund is in the cycle of its investment lifecycle will help you understand your VCs behavior. In his tenure as CEO of DataSift we have never missed a monthly revenue figure. Growth like this, this early in a company’s lifecycle rarely happens.

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles 365

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

Toya is a female-led studio partnering with the biggest platforms in the gaming industry to develop and promote games that reflect equal opportunities, diverse characters, and more dynamic storylines across the gender spectrum. It takes a LOT of courage to say no to potential revenue, especially in the very early stages of a startup.

Technical Review 178

Technical Review South Korea Due Diligence IP 178

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

It occurred to me that although we mentioned our new thematic approach when we raised our last fund in 2017, we haven’t really shared a broader manifesto about how we are approaching the early stage market. It’s been an interesting several years in the early stage venture eco-system, and the sands have shifted considerably.

North America 120

North America Seed Stage Early Stage Lead Investor 120

Steve Blank

AUGUST 29, 2011

Max and his partners had interviewed and analyzed over 650 early-stage Internet startups. In May they released the first Startup Genome Report — an in-depth analysis on what makes early-stage Internet startups successful. 93% of startups that scale prematurely never break the $100k revenue per month threshold.

Software Review 292

Software Review Early Stage Technical Review Startup 292

View from Seed

OCTOBER 24, 2019

Or, if you can’t skip a round, when should you try to work extra hard to minimize dilution and when should you be prepared to take more dilution for the right partner/situation? Also, the benefit of raising a pre-seed from great partners probably outweighs the cost. Founders with limited experience. Experienced founders: Consumer.

Dilution 149

Dilution B2B Burn Rate Early Stage 149

The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

While the rewards may be a boon to their company in the short term, the consequences of accepting outside funding too early can be debilitating. There’s a reason why I refer to early-stage VC funding as vulture capital, and to be honest it’s pretty accurate. Money in Exchange for Control. Focus on Product Development First.

Early Stage 85

Early Stage Venture Capital Bootstrapping Pre-Money Valuation 85

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

by Lu Zhang, founder and managing partner of Fusion Fund. 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. Be ready when it counts.

Technical Review 140

Technical Review Due Diligence Early Stage Differentiation 140

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2023

For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested. On the other hand, if you are a new entrepreneur, still in the idea stage, professional investors will only tell you to come back later when you have traction (customers and revenue).

Angel Investor 313

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 313

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

The functions of an early-stage board are pretty obvious and well understood: Providing introductions to customers, biz dev partners, recruits, the press, other investors, etc. Offering a sparring-partner function on strategic decisions. how much energy to put into channel partners vs. direct sales.

Technical Review 325

Technical Review Early Stage Software Review Los Angeles 325

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Make sure your plan answers every relevant question that you could possibly imagine from your business partners, spouse, and potential investors. 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. Only real results count.

Intellectual Property 281

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Sweat Equity CTO Hire 281

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 1, 2019

by Bruce Cleveland, Founding Partner at Wildcat Venture Partners and author of “ Traversing the Traction Gap “. This is the point in a company’s maturity – indicated by a certain level of revenue growth, engagement, downloads, usage or other metric – that demonstrates market validation and signals a positive growth trajectory.

Cleveland 150

Cleveland Framework Marketing Early Stage 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2013

Every early-stage startup should explore this new funding alternative. New “up-and-comer” VCs focus on early-stage companies. VCs are finding that they don’t need the “large” funds of $100M to $500M to support a portfolio, if they focus on early-stage startups.

Angel Investor 231

Angel Investor Entrepreneur Early Stage Silicon Valley 231

Steve Blank

JUNE 27, 2017

Its employees and investors don’t depend on an existing revenue stream. If they select a business model that targets industry incumbents, they don’t have to worry about upsetting existing customers, partners or distribution channels. Every Airbnb rental is a lost night of revenue for hotels that hate it.

Startup 275

Startup New York City Valuation Distribution 275

SoCal CTO

APRIL 18, 2012

Todd Gitlin of Safire Partners - a go to resource here in LA for recruiting C-level positions at startups - was nice enough to compile some data again this year (see last year's Startup CTO Salary and Equity Data ). If you get too specific, then the counts will get very small and may not be the best comparison. It has not.

CTO Hire 294

CTO Hire Salary Equity Los Angeles 294

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 1, 2014

In addition to being the startup entrepreneur, there are other key roles where Boomers can be a force in driving successful startups, in concert with leaders from Gen-X and Gen-Y: Early-stage Angel investors. Often the Boomer is more willing to work for equity, and easily convinced to step aside when revenues reach that next threshold.

Entrepreneur 266

Entrepreneur Advisory Board Dividend Angel Investor 266

View from Seed

JANUARY 27, 2021

. $100M is a meaningful increase from our $50M third fund, though it’s still quite small in the grand scheme of venture, especially amid the recent wave of late stage financings and SPACs. We believe that this fund is the perfect size for us to be the best possible partners to early-stage entrepreneurs today.

LP 411

LP Early Stage Seed Stage Venture Capital 411

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

The VC industry grew dramatically as a result of the Internet bubble - Before the Internet bubble the people who invested in VC funds (called LPs or Limited Partners) put about $50 billion into the industry and by 2001 this had grown precipitously to around $250 billion. Partners leave the industry. Here’s my take: 1.

LP 311

LP Technical Review Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2012

Make sure your plan answers every relevant question that you could possibly imagine from your business partners, spouse, and potential investors. 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. Only real results count.

Intellectual Property 260

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 260

VC Cafe

JULY 21, 2022

Investment bank Drake Star Partners published a report on the gaming investment and M&A activity in the first half of 2022. NPD reported on Friday that consumers spent 10% less in the first six months of 2022 than they did during the same time period last year, with game industry revenue down to $26.3 Over 3 billion.

Forecast 190

Forecast IP Mobile Acquisition 190

ConversionXL

MARCH 17, 2021

And while this was a good start, a significant position of these companies were early-stage startups. To do this we partnered with the RevGenius community to get a better understanding the challenges mature companies faced. After analysing our case studies and CRM, we saw that 73% of total revenue came from these two segments.

B2B 150

B2B Sales Cycle Belgium IP 150

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2023

Many entrepreneurs are convinced that banks are not worth the effort for startups, especially early-stage ones that still don’t have a revenue stream, or collateral to back up their financing needs. A question I get from time to time is “Can I ever expect any backing from my bank for a great opportunity?” Be comprehensive here.

Equity 303

Equity Silicon Valley Finance Early Stage 303

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 23, 2021

Relevancy for an early-stage company is the discovery and understanding of the real addressable market for a product or service. Too many early-stage companies are so desperate for customers that they operate in a frantic and random sales mode. The right partnership strategy can make a company relevant.

Early Stage 379

Early Stage Vertical Sales Global 379

YoungUpstarts

MAY 19, 2016

by Gadiel Morantes , chief revenue officer at Early Growth Financial Services. Unfortunately, we work with companies that realize the IP actually belongs to a former partner or the organization that the founders worked for during the product’s early stages. A Jenga tower is a precariously built one.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Burn Rate IP Intellectual Property 124

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2016

We help founders through difficult moments, we help coach, we act as sparring partners, we help them resolve conflicts when they’re fighting with co-founders and we help them deal with adversity as well as successes. The role of VC is sparring partner. It has grown recurring revenue by more than 500% and deal-size by 276%.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Fractional CTO Cofounder Early Stage 150