View from Seed

OCTOBER 21, 2014

As the seed-stage startup fundraise process has received more transparency in recent years, ranging from published advice on how to raise seed capital to increased availability through AngelList, Funders Club, and various accelerator programs, I’ve noticed another trend emerging. Lower-Than-Market Value.

Valuation 336

Valuation Founder Seed Stage Angel Investor 336

Gust

SEPTEMBER 29, 2011

The most successful serial entrepreneurs in the world may found three or four, perhaps even eight or ten venture-backed startups over the course of their careers. It should therefore come as no surprise that an asymmetry of information exists, mostly gleaned from experience, between founders and investors in a venture financing deal.

Finance 178

Finance Term Sheet Preferred Stock Bridge Financing 178

Business Plan Blog

NOVEMBER 13, 2013

Raising Seed Capital. Most startup founders do not have enough capital to launch their companies and need to raise money at some point. Convertible Debt Financing. Among the most common methods of funding used by startups when raising seed capital is “Convertible Debt Financing.”

Finance 93

Finance Accredited Investor Angel Investor Seed Capital 93

View from Seed

DECEMBER 6, 2018

Five years ago, as the mania around seed fundings was accelerating, Founders were very eager to announce their seed round to the world. And seed VCs, especially as new firms were being established, were eager to encourage their portfolio startups to plant that flag in the ground publicly. What’s going on?

Seed Stage 201

Seed Stage Stealth Seed Capital Later Stage 201

Feld Thoughts

JULY 29, 2011

Finance Friday’s gets off the ground with today’s post by introducing you to an imaginary startup, the entrepreneurs that we’ll being following throughout the series, and their first challenges: splitting up the founders’ equity and addressing the case where one of the founders provides the initial seed capital for the business.

Equity 137

Equity Finance Pre-Money Valuation Denver 137

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 18, 2014

Once a startup has raised seed capital, plenty of theories and advice exist on how to successfully raise a Series A. Recently, we looked at our own portfolio at NextView Ventures to dig a little deeper on how startups actually raise that next round of financing. There was no meaningful difference.

Syndicate 333

Syndicate Syndication Seed Stage Startup 333

Steve Blank

APRIL 28, 2016

Entrepreneurs see opportunity where others see obstacles and why hubris is an entrepreneur’s worst enemy, were two topics of discussion on my SiriusXM radio show, Entrepreneurs are Everywhere. Ajay Kshatriya , co-founder and CEO of Biota Technology , which applies DNA sequencing technology to the energy industry.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Cofounder Seed Capital Texas 120

Steve Blank

APRIL 28, 2016

Entrepreneurs see opportunity where others see obstacles and why hubris is an entrepreneur’s worst enemy, were two topics of discussion on my SiriusXM radio show, Entrepreneurs are Everywhere. Ajay Kshatriya , co-founder and CEO of Biota Technology , which applies DNA sequencing technology to the energy industry.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Cofounder Seed Capital Texas 120

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 13, 2013

Cancer research and treatment may just have gotten a shot up the arm – Singapore-based Clearbridge BioMedics has just announced that it successfully closed a S$9 million Series B financing round led by Vertex Venture Holdings Ltd, the wholly-owned VC arm of Singapore’s Temasek Holdings.

Singapore 228

Singapore Intellectual Property United States Cofounder 228

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2012

Entrepreneurs sometimes assume an initial agreement with an Angel is a commitment, so they start spending before any money is received. It’s true that Angel investors typically do not present entrepreneurs with overly complicated deal structures, especially when compared to venture capitalists. Outline multiple tranches.

Term Sheet 223

Term Sheet Pre-Money Valuation Due Diligence Post-Money Valuation 223

Gust

SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

To begin with, it is important to understand some basic facts about the world of entrepreneurial finance: There are many more entrepreneurs than there are investors, with the result that only one company out of every 400 that seeks venture funding actually receives it. This will almost always be the best approach to an investor.

Angel Groups 159

Angel Groups Elevator Pitch Software Review Deal Flow 159

Genuine VC

MARCH 24, 2014

A couple years ago, my partner Lee penned a blog post about the milestone benchmarks for startups raising a Series A round of financing. The four winning strategies for startups to go from Seed to A are: Build Scale/Momentum. All of these strategies point in similar directions, but are certainly not the same vector.

Seed Capital 212

Seed Capital Metrics Cofounder Revenue 212

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

Entrepreneurs sometimes assume an initial agreement with an angel is a commitment, so they start spending before any money is received. It’s true that angel investors typically do not present entrepreneurs with overly complicated deal structures, especially when compared to venture capitalists. Outline multiple tranches.

Term Sheet 227

Term Sheet Pre-Money Valuation Due Diligence Post-Money Valuation 227

Gust

OCTOBER 5, 2011

Last week , we gave some attention to the “why” behind convertible note financing for early stage startups. As with so many subjects in law and finance, mastering the jargon is half the battle. This may seem like a no-brainer now that you understand the basic structure of a convertible debt financing.

Finance 79

Finance Preferred Stock Term Sheet Early Stage 79

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 5, 2019

As an entrepreneur, you have probably heard or read the “maxim” that only 10% of startups are successful, but is this true? These results were obtained after the following rounds of financing of more than 1000 technology companies in the United States. The rounds were conducted from 2008 to 2010, starting from seed capital.

Venture Capital 77

Venture Capital Cofounder Finance United States 77

Gust

OCTOBER 17, 2011

Entrepreneurs sometimes assume an initial agreement with an angel is a commitment, so they start spending before any money is received. It’s true that angel investors typically do not present entrepreneurs with overly complicated deal structures, especially when compared to venture capitalists. Outline multiple tranches.

Term Sheet 158

Term Sheet Pre-Money Valuation Due Diligence Post-Money Valuation 158

K9 Ventures

JUNE 5, 2015

Together this means that Seed stage companies need to run longer and at a higher expense structure, meaning they need to raise a lot more capital. In that presentation, I said that Seed is not the first round of financing any more and that K9’s investments were mostly “pre-seed”. Seed is the New A.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation 48

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2014

I had witnessed a number of early-stage tech startups in LA raise seed capital from the Bay Area and relocate. It was 2009 and it was terribly difficult to get any financing (if you can remember a time like that!) They have raised company profiles and made follow-on financings easier. So we went for it. See point one!

Early Stage 290

Early Stage Venture Capital Los Angeles Coder 290

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. In contrast, Josh was an experienced entrepreneur who had started several companies and likely learned his lessons through experience.

Balance Sheet 136

Balance Sheet Forecast Cap Table Early Stage 136

Growthink Blog

MAY 23, 2011

The typical wisdom regarding the appropriate financing course for a new company goes as follows: 1. An entrepreneur starts a company in classic " bootstrap " fashion - with a combination of sweat equity and their own financial resources. All live happily ever after. It all sounds wonderful and it is.

Angel Investor 112

Angel Investor Venture Capital Sweat Equity Cram Down 112

Business Plan Blog

DECEMBER 10, 2013

The most important principle of startup fundraising that every entrepreneur needs to know is: raise enough capital to achieve a set of milestones that will allow the company to attract the next round of investment. Below are the milestones that you will need to achieve in order to attract seed investment from Angels: Business Plan.

Angel Investor 55

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Seed Capital Advisory Board 55

Scott Edward Walker

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011

I’ve been helping entrepreneurs raise capital as a securities lawyer for 17+ years, and there are certain fundamental mistakes that I’ve seen entrepreneurs repeatedly make. Accordingly, I thought it would be helpful to share three basic tips for entrepreneurs in connection with raising capital. How is this done?

Preferred Stock 45

Preferred Stock Angel Investor Entrepreneur Common Stock 45

Growthink Blog

MAY 10, 2012

Seed Funding 3. Mezzanine Financing Most companies that raise equity capital and are eventually acquired or go public receive multiple rounds of financing first. No right or wrong answer here, but if this is your vision then it's important to consider when negotiating deal terms on earlier stage financing rounds.

Equity 88

Equity Mezzanine Later Stage Venture Capital 88

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 13, 2018

Over the past five years, we’ve witnessed an Atomization of the Seed Stage. Early fundraising is no longer a one-and-done fundraise of a single round of Seed capital subsequently followed by a Series A 12–18 months later. A seed extension has ceased to be the equivalent of scarlet letter, and instead has become commonplace.

Seed Stage 136

Seed Stage Post-Money Valuation Valuation Startup 136

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

It’s always fun chatting with Jason because he’s knowledgeable about the market, quick on topics and pushes me to talk more about VC / entrepreneur issues. We’re staring to get the hang of how to divide the show up into talking about deals but also talking about issues for entrepreneurs during funding. Short answer: no.

Stealth 285

Stealth SEC Advertising Accredited Investor 285

Business Plan Blog

OCTOBER 4, 2013

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. Rather, give titles such as VP of Engineering, Product/Technology, Sales, Marketing, Finance, etc. Don’t make everyone a founder.

Part-Time VPE 79

Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE Cofounder CTO Hire 79

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 25, 2015

A few weeks ago, we launched two startup pitch deck templates for raising seed capital — part of NextView’s platform of exclusive startup resources. Some of these lessons might be useful because I’m not the founder who created those decks. 5 Surprising Mistakes Found in Seed-Stage Startup Pitch Decks. #1:

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Seed Stage Boston Startup 120

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

If you’re an Entrepreneur, you can do it from any place in the world. How important is education when I know I want to be an entrepreneur? Whats is the best way to find a co-founder for your startup? However, one of my co-founders doesn’t seem to be as motivated as the rest of us. Radian6 just did the same thing.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 15, 2014

Ta , entrepreneur, author and CEO of Sqeeqee.com. Often times, the people will have you believe that accomplished entrepreneurs had their success purely by dint of the invincibility of their irresistible ideas. I have identified 5 “boring” aspects of entrepreneurism that if focused on will lead to success: 1. By Jenny Q.

Vietnam 171

Vietnam Venture Capital Seed Capital Exit Strategy 171

Feld Thoughts

JULY 14, 2015

A company raises $1m of seed money from angels in a convertible note with a $6m cap. Assuming equity is raised at or above that cap, the total dilution, before the new money, is 16.6% (equivalent to an equity financing of $1m at a $6m post money valuation. But in this cycle, I hadn’t seen it in a seed round.

Recapitalization 70

Recapitalization Pre-Money Valuation Post-Money Valuation Angel Investor 70

mashable.com

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

This dynamic births serial entrepreneurs and motivates angels and venture capitalists to pull their friends into investment deals. For the first-time entrepreneur or founder looking for seed stage funding, this circle can be especially difficult to penetrate.

Angel Investor 80

Angel Investor Startup San Francisco Social Media 80

techcrunch.com

FEBRUARY 19, 2010

Tweet View Comments Sarah Lacy Feb 19, 2010 Pepperdine has a new study out that attempts to shed some light on the clubby, shadowy world of private finance. Researchers polled experts in lending, mezzanine capital, private equity, venture capital and private businesses themselves. Think Again. Printed from: [.] Translation?

Venture Capital 62

Venture Capital Technical Review Sweat Equity Valuation 62

Hearpreneur

OCTOBER 20, 2019

Often entrepreneurs and business owners create their daily, weekly, quartely or yearly goals around their business. We asked entrepreneurs to share their BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) and here are the insightful responses. #1- A lot of great entrepreneurs who start here almost never end here. Photo Credit: Paige Arnof-Fenn.

Papua New Guinea 66

Papua New Guinea Hawaii Advisory Board Churn Rate 66

Steve Blank

MAY 9, 2017

The founders were simply wrong about their assumptions about customer needs. It turns out the term “visionary founder” was usually a synonym for someone who was hallucinating. Founders Need to Run the Company Longer. So, almost like clockwork 20 th century startups fired the innovators/founders when they scaled.

Restful 222

Restful Silicon Valley Puerto Rico San Jose 222

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 25, 2021

Now, as CEO and founder of Carbon Health , Eren is leading one of the country's fastest growing healthcare startups. But now as CEO and founder of Carbon Health, Eren is leading one of the fastest growing healthcare startups. Eren spoke openly about his growth as a founder and leader, as well as gave candid advice for future founders.

Silicon Valley 60

Silicon Valley Turkey Los Angeles California 60