Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 4, 2015

Most aspiring entrepreneurs understand that you can’t build a business if you won’t commit to delivering a product or service, but many are hesitant or refuse to commit to any financial forecasts. Yet every business requires revenue and volumes, as certainly as it requires a product to sell. Forecast sales-volume expectations.

Forecast 120

Forecast Entrepreneur Burn Rate Widget 120

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

Consumer spending is 70% of the economy and will continue to be stretched – We can look all we want at tech innovation, VC funding cycles and hot M&A deals, but ultimately growth and therefore investment must be underpinned by revenue. We spent our future since the equity was artificial. Consumer spending is where I’m dubious.

Technical Review 269

Technical Review Stock Hawaii Early Stage 269

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. Note that these are “gross” revenue numbers. When the show has been processed it will be available here (estimated 8pm PDT). CEO hinted to WSJ that it may go public in early 2011.

Partner 240

Partner New York City Cofounder Syndicate 240

Steve Blank

MARCH 17, 2020

Next, take a look at your actual revenue each month – not forecast, but real revenue coming in each month. Subtract your monthly gross burn rate from your monthly revenue to get your net burn rate. All your assumptions about customers, sales cycle and most importantly, revenue, burn rate and runway are no longer true.

Burn Rate 436

Burn Rate Startup Valuation Sales Cycle 436

David Teten

AUGUST 7, 2019

LTV / CAC, revenue growth, etc.) Today, some Momentum-centric venture capital investors have high paper returns. Simple reason: most of them have known only a rising market in their careers, and in such a market the companies that are already hot can usually raise more capital and force growth.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Valuation Stock NDA 60

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2017

You need 5 percent or more of revenue for marketing, more for new development, and people costs will double as you add benefits, insurance, training, IT and processes. If you want to be assessed as a “premium” acquisition candidate down the road, an aggressive but reasonable target might be doubling revenue each year.

Burn Rate 144

Burn Rate Forecast Angel Investor Revenue 144

Growthink Blog

APRIL 3, 2012

For example, having a financial model that shows you are going to grow from $0 to $100 million in revenues in 3 years is generally going to be frowned upon. Since achieving such a feat is extremely rare. It is your job to overcome this pessimism.

Private Equity 97

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Forecast 97

The Next Web

FEBRUARY 27, 2014

your equity in a hot new patented technology business), the higher the demand (e.g., As an example, a new restaurant may get valued at 3-4x EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) and a hot dot com business with meteoric traffic growth could get valued at 5-10x revenues. Supply and demand.

Valuation 167

Valuation Forecast Seed Stage .Net 167

Cracking the Code

MARCH 12, 2010

So, here is the first edition, including the recent Q4 2009 earnings and the updated 2010 forecast. Given the predictability of SaaS GAAP revenues on a quarterly basis, the fact that the 08/09 projections were unchanged is not a surprise. Venture Capital. (3). Explore Venture Capital. Favorite Podcasts. (1).

Software Review 63

Software Review Technical Review Cloud Forecast 63

Up and Running

AUGUST 1, 2017

While there’s a certain cachet that comes with being able to say you raised a round of funding for your startup, realize that it’s a lot of hard work to actually secure venture capital (VC) funding , and there are reasons you might not want to. If you’re looking to bring on a partner and money, venture capital might be the right fit.

Venture Capital 113

Venture Capital Cofounder Finance Security 113

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 14, 2015

One of the points I tried to make is that as venture capital investors as an industry we seem to have a healthy disdain for public market investors. The truth is that the brutal reality of public markets is that they self correct much more quickly than our shitty little private equity illiquid corner of the universe.

Burn Rate 150

Burn Rate San Francisco Private Equity LP 150

Steve Blank

APRIL 1, 2020

Your revenue plans are no longer valid. What’s your monthly cash burn at your new low revenue level? Forecasted recovery date. Sales pipeline/forecast. Sources of additional capital – For existing companies: debt commitments, and new lenders. The ripple effects won’t be obvious at first.

South Korea 333

South Korea Salary Business Model China 333

Up and Running

AUGUST 19, 2014

With this history, you can accurately forecast business decisions and needs that will eventually drive growth going forward—which will, eventually, lead to a situation where you can potentially give yourself a raise. When you’ve raised the funding you need to grow.

Salary 119

Salary Sweat Equity Silicon Valley Sales Cycle 119

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

In fact, SaaS industry revenue is projected to grow from $49 billion in 2015 to $67 billion in 2018, a compound annual growth rate of approximately eight percent. While it’s useful to be able to have a sales forecast and expense budget early on, it’s not something you need until you’ve validated your idea.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Cracking the Code

JANUARY 22, 2009

While it may make sense to offer very slight adjustments for favorable payment terms and one time revenue, net additions to MRR should dominate the sales rep’s thoughts. 1 of MRR generates $12 of annual revenue, so $1 commission equals 1/12=8.3% Accelerating bonuses for upfront cash payment depends on your cost of capital.

Software Review 91

Software Review Clawback Sales Salary 91

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

  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.]   In a bottom up approach, the forecast is built from actual user projections.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

Up and Running

MAY 15, 2018

Whether you are hoping to expand a small business with a loan or going for a round of venture capital, you will need a scalable business model. Your business model must show the potential to increase the revenue with minimal expenditure in the coming months or years. Venture capital. Angel investors. Crowdfunding.

SBA 84

SBA Angel Investor Technical Review Startup 84

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 26, 2022

For more about forecasting growth in these uncertain times, check out Sequoia’s “ Adapting to Endure ” presentations published in May 2022. A founder should know (more or less) what milestones she can achieve with the current round (in terms of product, revenue, etc).

Founder 187

Founder Startup Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 187

BeyondVC

JANUARY 2, 2006

From a philosophical point of view, I view compensation as the combination of salary, bonus (if any), and equity. For cash starved startups, having management and employees believing in the opportunity and team and being motivated by equity is key to success. The next question you may have is what is the definition of market.

Management 60

Management Equity Forecast Salary 60

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 20, 2016

See Also: 17 Venture Capital Blogs You Should Be Reading. If you’re able to build a product and find product/market fit without raising money, you can maintain control of your venture and grow from the resulting revenue. See Also: A Complete Guide to Forecasting Sales for Your Monthly Subscription (SaaS) Business.

Early Stage 60

Early Stage Startup Forecast Channel 60

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

Valuing any company can be difficult because it requires a degree of forecasting future growth & competition and ultimately the profits of the organization. In the case of startups the “buyer” is the VC looking to part cash for “purchasing” equity in your startup. This corrected only to go back up to 13.4x

Valuation 150

Valuation Down Round Startup Later Stage 150

Small Business Force

OCTOBER 14, 2016

I’ve written countless articles and blog posts about raising capital. Professional investors, be they angels, venture capital or private equity firms are always looking at far more deals than they could invest in. It’s one of the single hardest things you will ever undertake in your business career.

Sweat Equity 20

Sweat Equity Private Equity Valuation Equity 20

www.currentlyobsessed.com

MAY 28, 2010

Snapvine was my first experience being in the driver’s seat of the fund-raising process, and in the 3 years prior to our acquisition we raised over $10mm in venture capital. The net effect was more money raised, higher valuation and the same percentage of equity sold. Or is it?

Valuation 42

Valuation Channel Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 42

Ben's Blog

MAY 24, 2021

billion multi-stage venture capital firm focused on IT-related investments… I also serve on various investment committees, including for the St. Jude Children’s Cancer Hospital and the Stanford Medical Center, and teach entrepreneurship and venture capital at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

SEC 36

SEC Accredited Investor IPO Technical Review 36

Steve Blank

MAY 17, 2022

The opportunity is so large that there are hundreds of AI accelerator startups designing their own chips, funded by 10’s of billions of venture capital and private equity. Helpful for predicting numerical values based on different data points, such as sales revenue projections for a given business.

Artificial Inteligence 419

Artificial Inteligence Software Review Algorithm Technical Review 419

Up and Running

DECEMBER 9, 2014

What I did is I learned the art of a pro forma and the value of a pro forma which basically is a forecast. Two, revenue. Give us an answer and let’s move on to finding working capital. If you don’t know what your cash flow forecast is, you don’t really understand your capital needs.

Small Business 95

Small Business Finance Forecast Metrics 95