David Teten

APRIL 1, 2021

As an agenda for each meeting, I suggest: – How can we most add value, in addition to helping with financing? Nick Kim , Crosscut’s Head of Platform, in his presentation at the 4th Annual VC Platform Summit, shared their Platform development methodology, which he viewed as an exercise in product development.

Private Equity 78

Private Equity Venture Capital Portfolio Equity 78

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

In this period (less than 2 years) he has brought on incredibly talented senior execs is sales, marketing, product management, client services, finance, vp engineering and more. By being so metrics driven we can have a lot more quantifiable and objective discussions at board meetings and at mid-point reviews. .

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles 365

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 6, 2016

To create this first year in business checklist, I turned to our in-house experts here at Palo Alto Software: Sabrina Parsons, CEO; Noah Parsons, COO; Josh Cochrane, Vice President of Product Development; and Josh Fegles, Academic and Government Channel Sales Director, and founder of gluten-free cookie company Jude’s Foods.

Forecast 60

Forecast Software Review Lean Finance 60

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 6, 2013

So What is Customer Development? Steve Blank, a serial entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, developed a methodology for creating businesses that runs in parallel with the traditional product development process. The core idea behind customer development is that the assumptions you make about a target market are only guesses.

Customer Development 126

Customer Development Conversion Developer Customer 126

View from Seed

OCTOBER 15, 2014

Examples of housekeeping include the following list, though not every item will appear every time: Finance: Cash out date, burn rate, 409A valuation, cap table, common/preferred stock dashboard. Finance is mission critical, for instance – it just appears on a recurring basis. Note that “housekeeping” doesn’t mean “not important.”

Seed Stage 331

Seed Stage Cap Table Metrics Burn Rate 331

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 18, 2014

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. Foster product development and marketing which creates organic (or somewhat organic) user traction. Build Audience Momentum.

Syndicate 333

Syndicate Syndication Seed Stage Startup 333

Steve Blank

MARCH 4, 2014

They measure their success on metrics that reflect success in execution, and they reward execution. 20 th century Management Tools for Execution In the 20 th century business schools and consulting firms developed an amazing management stack to assist companies to execute. Our Investment Readiness Level is just one of those metrics.)

IRR 335

IRR Startup Business Model Agile 335

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 strategy here is to foster product development and marketing which creates overall (semi-)organic user momentum.

Seed Capital 212

Seed Capital Metrics Cofounder Revenue 212

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2017

Very few startups are cash-rich enough to self-finance aggressive second-stage growth. They need a large infusion from venture capitalists, private equity, bank loans, or mezzanine financing. Switch your attention from product development to sales. Managing business growth is more than metrics.

Mezzanine 141

Mezzanine Private Equity Startup Bandwidth 141

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 3, 2013

Very few startups are cash-rich enough to self-finance aggressive second-stage growth. They need a large infusion from venture capitalists, private equity, bank loans, or mezzanine financing. Switch your attention from product development to sales. Managing business growth is more than metrics.

Mezzanine 240

Mezzanine Private Equity Bandwidth Metrics 240

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

Every board meeting, the metrics of success change. Their product definition fluctuates wildly – one month, it’s a dessert topping, the next it’s a floor wax. And what of the product development team? Time-to-complete-a-sale is not a bad metric for validated learning at this stage.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2015

Very few startups are cash-rich enough to self-finance aggressive second-stage growth. They need a large infusion from venture capitalists, private equity, bank loans, or mezzanine financing. Switch your attention from product development to sales. Managing business growth is more than metrics.

Mezzanine 120

Mezzanine Private Equity Startup Bandwidth 120

www.lanceglasser.com

MAY 13, 2012

Finance and budgeting. Metrics for cyclical businesses. Product development. Queuing theory and product development. For how to manage that see, for instance, Queuing theory and product development or take some time to investigate resource management tools.) Let the Games Begin! Stock buybacks.

CTO 40

CTO CTO Hire Technical Review Architecture 40

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 22, 2016

Many finance and strategy leaders are now being asked to lead and support innovation too, he adds. In fact, 67 percent of senior finance and accounting professionals now support innovation in some fashion versus only 35 percent 10 years ago. It’s true that what gets measured gets done.

Government 100

Government Channel Metrics Portfolio 100

K9 Ventures

OCTOBER 10, 2017

This post is intended to be a dynamic document, and I will attempt to update it from time to time with new questions that may arise or as financing trends evolve. Q: What amount of financing is considered Pre-Seed? It’s a legitimate stage of financing in the venture eco-system as of this writing (October 2017).

Seed Stage 82

Seed Stage Finance Later Stage Equity 82

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 20, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, October 20, 2008 The engineering managers lament I was inspired to write The product managers lament while meeting with a startup struggling to figure out what had gone wrong with their product development process. Good luck, engineering manager. It was painful for a lot of people.

Software Review 164

Software Review Engineer Management Technical Review 164

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 7, 2013

2005 to Today: Retail, Manufacturing, Finance, Government Specific, etc. In a similar fashion, the evolution of IT over the decades has resulted in the change of platforms, resulting in the development of what is known as the 3rd Platform. 1990s to 2000: Infrastructure, Security, Management, etc.

Technology 174

Technology Singapore Malaysia Indonesia 174

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 14, 2013

For instance, Brant Cooper will lead you through applying Lean Startup in HR, IT and finance teams. Patrick Sheridan will lead a workshop on bringing mobile development to established companies , especially for execs and team leaders. If there’s a problem in production, developers need to own it.

Continuous Deployment 162

Continuous Deployment Norway Lean Analytics 162

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Very few people turn up with a strong sense of “what we should be doing” or ready to lean into a productive conversation The financials were prepared by the VP of Finance / CFO. Often board members themselves don’t do the work to say “what metrics would we like to see.” There are too many pages. It passes the weight test.

Stock Options 226

Stock Options Metrics Stock Valuation 226

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 29, 2020

Your data will be ordered and structured into information based on specific niches like engineering and construction, finance, technology, and business. Thus, you must manage your available finances wisely. Product development also occurs in small iterations or changes. Implement the “lean startup” philosophy.

Bootstrapping 85

Bootstrapping Global Startup Hungary 85

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 8, 2011

But the most important metric has been the deep and lasting relationships that have been built with startups and also between senior executives. There were regular events where experts talked about: fund raising, term sheets, constructing a team, product development, establishing biz dev partners, M&A, dealing with the press, etc.

Los Angeles 287

Los Angeles Silicon Valley Incubator Startup 287

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

He’s personally led more than 50 financing rounds. And finally, Scott demonstrated his internal management tool for managing the metrics of his business. Money to be used for hiring and additional product development. Offers two products: Palantir Government and Palantir Finance. It’s awesome.

San Francisco 248

San Francisco Venture Capital Analytics Government 248

BeyondVC

DECEMBER 10, 2009

So first and foremost, I let him know that while it was nice to have a well thought out spreadsheet, that the most important thing was getting the product developed and the right team in place. While many SAAS companies may collect cash monthly or quarterly, some collect annual fees by offering discounts by paying upfront.

Churn Rate 112

Churn Rate Burn Rate Startup Metrics 112

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 19, 2016

To address this problem, I found mentors who had been successful in my company’s area of commercial finance. As a founder, you will touch sales, marketing, product development, customer service, accounting, fundraising, and more. See Also: The 5 Metrics You Need to Track for Your Subscription (SaaS) Business to Succeed.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Acquisition B2B Partner 60

ConversionXL

AUGUST 30, 2018

It slows product development. The key is to connect user research to an improved user experience and, in turn, an increase in customer retention, leads, or any other metric for which C-suite members are accountable. The finance team understands that content customers are less likely to churn and destabilize revenue flows.

Design 111

Design Framework Product Development Technical Review 111

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

In future posts I’ll describe how Eric Ries and the Lean Startup concept provided the equivalent model for product development activities inside the building and neatly integrates customer and agile development. Market Type also affects the market size as well as how you launch the product into the market.

Customer Development 196

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 196

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

Another great way to test your idea is to create a minimum viable product, or MVP. This is the simplest version of your product minus the frills and frosting. It’s a particularly popular strategy in the world of product development and is used to quickly and quantitatively test a product or a product feature.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 6, 2011

Inspired by lessons from lean manufacturing, it relies on “validated learning,” rapid scientific experimentation, as well as a number of counter-intuitive practices that shorten product development cycles, measure actual progress without resorting to vanity metrics, and learn what customers really want.

Lean 167

Lean Startup Metrics Private Equity 167

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Unfortunately in early stage startups the drive for financing hijacks the corporate DNA and becomes the raison d’etre of the company. The Traditional VC Pitch Entrepreneurs who pursue the traditional product development model don’t have customer data to answer these questions. Is there a profitable business model? Great post!

Customer Development 262

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 262

Software By Rob

APRIL 2, 2014

This can lead to complex transfer arrangements between buyer and seller which can be a deterrent for investors from the outset and is also an ongoing headache for both parties post sale as it will often involve contingency based financing agreements. Ensure they document everything they do in detail.

Affiliate 67

Affiliate Valuation Reputation Sales 67

The Next Web

AUGUST 26, 2012

For this reason you should find out as quickly as possible if the product is indeed offering real value to your customers by looking at real data. The metrics that matter the most are returning customers (user retention), turnover per customer and viral growth (k-factor). Most start-ups fail.

Bankruptcy 121

Bankruptcy Technical Review Intellectual Property Due Diligence 121

Startup Lessons Learned

JUNE 21, 2010

This is why so many small businesses can be financed with simple bank loans; the level of risk and uncertainty is well enough understood that a reasonably intelligent loan officer can assess its prospects. Thus, the land of startups is a unique place, where the risks themselves are unknown. Startup Lessons Learned - the Conference (April 23.

San Francisco 168

San Francisco Startup Lean Continuous Deployment 168

Hearpreneur

JULY 19, 2021

I love knowing that my business empowers lawyers to actually understand how marketing works and how to hold the vendors they work with (and often their own internal employees) accountable for their work in measurable, fair, and metrics-backed ways. Thanks to Shiv Gupta, Incrementors SEO Services ! #27- 27- The diversity it brings.

Entrepreneur 139

Entrepreneur Jordan Non-Compete Community 139

conversionxl.com

SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

So What is Customer Development? Steve Blank, a serial entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, developed a methodology for creating businesses that runs in parallel with the traditional product development process. The core idea behind customer development is that the assumptions you make about a target market are only guesses.

Customer Development 60

Customer Development Conversion Developer Customer 60

Startup Lessons Learned

NOVEMBER 11, 2008

Among those: plentiful financing and nerds , a culture that celebrates both failure and success, and an ethos of openness and sharing. Startup Visa update ► February (5) Kiwi lean startup + Australia next Why diversity matters (the meritocracy business) Beware of Vanity Metrics (for Harvard Business Rev.

Silicon Valley 68

Silicon Valley San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment 68

Software By Rob

APRIL 2, 2014

This can lead to complex transfer arrangements between buyer and seller which can be a deterrent for investors from the outset and is also an ongoing headache for both parties post sale as it will often involve contingency based financing agreements. Ensure they document everything they do in detail.

Affiliate 27

Affiliate Valuation Reputation Sales 27

Venture Chronicles

JULY 27, 2010

I was looking forward to this conversation for two reasons, the first being that Brightidea is a successful 11 year old company that has never taken venture financing (I expect that will change) and as it relates to product R&D, especially for digital products, ideation is contributing to the software tools sector becoming exciting again.

Cofounder 42

Cofounder Demand Community Operations 42