David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

Private equity and venture capital investors are copying our sisters in the hedge fund and mutual fund world: we’re trying to automate more of our job. I previously posted a detailed presentation with sales technology tools useful for B2B sales. is an AI bot which helps companies refine their sales pitch to VCs.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2014

Much has been written about when it is time to hire a “professional CEO” to run a startup company and of course that has long been a norm in Silicon Valley when founders find that their inexperience may be a limiting factor in company growth ( know as the Peter Principle ). I like technical founders so this wasn’t an issue.

Founder 309

Founder CTO Hire Silicon Valley Leadership 309

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 11, 2023

Seed venture capital firms can make more significant follow-on investments to keep or increase their equity stake in the company. pexels A war chest is virtually always a competitive edge in all aspects that count, including employing key staff, public relations, marketing, and sales. Hence they will miss the finish line.

Seed Stage 130

Seed Stage Technical Review Early Stage Due Diligence 130

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 22, 2010

Back in 1999 when I first raised venture capital I had zero knowledge of what a fair term sheet looked like or how to value my company. Other founders, “as a privately held company we don’t disclose our valuation.&# Me, “dude, I’m not a journalist. Investors own 25%, the founders own 75%.

Valuation 405

Valuation Liquidation Preference Pre-Money Valuation Term Sheet 405

Steve Blank

MARCH 16, 2016

To most founders a startup is not a job, but a calling. Risk capital takes equity (stock ownership) in your company instead of debt (loans) in exchange for cash. At its core Venture Capital is nothing more than a small portion of the Private Equity financial asset class. What does this mean for startup founders?

Liquidity Event 120

Liquidity Event Founder Liquidation Preference Private Equity 120

David Teten

APRIL 6, 2015

Both founders and researchers in healthcare are spending far too much of their energy in areas where they’re not going to make maximum impact. All venture capital and NIH funding data for CY 2010 – 2014 in USA. Healthcare founders are being rational in an irrational system. Source: NIH, CB Insights.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Technical Review Non-Compete Philadelphia 60

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 24, 2013

Obviously, a key factor is always the state of the economy and the mood of the venture capital community. According to the Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist Confidence Index® for the First Quarter 2013, the Q1 increase marks three consecutive quarters of positive sentiment among Silicon Valley venture capitalists.

Venture Capital 238

Venture Capital Silicon Valley Massachusetts California 238

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

He also nails the reason why venture capital is still necessary to grow large businesses quickly in a world where the costs of running startups have fallen dramatically. “Why do founders want to take the VCs’ money? After all, growth equals high valuations and loads of venture capital! Growth, again.

Silicon Valley 390

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Startup Technical Review 390

The Startup Magazine

NOVEMBER 28, 2022

Each engagement is personally undertaken by their founder and principal, Mitul. Mitul also has a tremendous knowledge of sales systems, having built and led global GTM teams of 70+ people in Sales (inc. Inside Sales), Channel, Pre-Sales, SDRs, Marketing, Customer Success, and Professional Services.

Founder 132

Founder B2B Private Equity India 132

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

Up and Running

NOVEMBER 26, 2018

Myth #1: Venture capital is a growing opportunity for funding businesses. Actually, venture capital financing is very rare. I’ll explain this more later, but assume that only a very few high-growth companies with high-power management teams are venture opportunities. Venture capital.

SBA 161

SBA Venture Capital Angel Investor Technical Review 161

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 1, 2011

Venture Capitalists who are serious about turning their firms into more than one-fund wonders may want to have their associates actually start and run a company for a year. Running a company is distinctly different from simply having operating experience – (working in bus dev, sales or marketing.) Filed under: Venture Capital.

Venture Capital 333

Venture Capital Early Stage Technical Review Startup 333

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2018

If you’ve read any of my ongoing series on fund raising from venture capitalist (episode 1?— ?controlling controlling your psychology ) you no doubt have heard me say that raising capital is a sales & marketing process. This is critical to build a cohesive venture capital firm. This is Sales 101.

Technical Review 314

Technical Review Due Diligence Partner Term Sheet 314

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 11, 2010

CEO – “Well, we’ve missed our sales numbers for the last six months.” What does this have to do with missing your sales plan? CEO – “Well our VP of Sales isn’t making the sales plan and he says it’s a marketing problem, and he’s a really senior guy.”. The CEO asks the VP of Sales to join us in the conference room.

Burn Rate 251

Burn Rate Silicon Valley Marketing Boston 251

The Startup Magazine

FEBRUARY 11, 2022

On the other side of the spectrum, the idea of finding a unicorn has attracted many investors toward the much riskier venture capital and emerging technologies. Real estate has long been considered a sound investment, and has become even more popular in recent years as historical data has shown the market’s relatively low volatility.

Private Equity 132

Private Equity Equity Technical Review Software Review 132

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

When you first start your company and raise initial venture capital your board probably consists of 1-3 founders and 1-2 VCs. Most experienced VCs won’t push you to give up founder control at this stage of the business nor should they. Founder’s perspective. how to build an initial sales organization.

Technical Review 325

Technical Review Early Stage Software Review Los Angeles 325

Hunter Walker

DECEMBER 11, 2023

He’s founder and CEO of Greenhouse , a ‘hiring operating system’ for companies which spans recruiting and onboarding tools for enterprises and SMEs. Originally backed by venture capital, in 2021 Daniel worked with TPG , a large private equity firm, to make them the majority investor.

Private Equity 77

Private Equity Equity DC Leveraged Buyout 77

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

As a result I didn’t write my first venture capital check until March 2009 – exactly 5 years ago. In 2010 somebody posed the question on Quora, “Is Mark Suster a Successful Venture Capitalist?” That company was Invoca, which just announced a $20 million fund raise led by Accel. 5 years ago.

Los Angeles 387

Los Angeles Intellectual Property LP Venture Capital 387

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2010

But until now, I’ve never seen a study of exactly how that plays out for startup founders for current venture-backed companies, specifically: race, age, experience and the number of founders per company. The significant findings include the following: Founders need to live in the right place. No surprises here.

Venture Capital 221

Venture Capital Massachusetts California New York 221

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Draw Your Ideas - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , May 16, 2010 I saw Jack Dorsey give this talk at The 99% Conference last month. But founders need to know how to ask for their advice and when to ignore it. Through advertising or direct sales, these sites harvest intent. Tesla is not. It's a great talk.

Fractional CTO 248

Fractional CTO Startup Venture Capital Cofounder 248

View from Seed

MARCH 24, 2021

At NextView Ventures we have written many pieces about venture capital — how to raise it, build your business, engage with investors, iterate your product, navigate expanding industries, etc. Doing Reference Checks on VCs “Try to speak to at least one founder that the investor has worked with in a failed investment.

Seed Stage 178

Seed Stage Hiring IPO Analytics 178

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2023

There is no black magic involved in predicting the future, if you use these four simple steps, with my basic rules of thumb to keep you on the right track: Determine your margin on sales. Forecast sales-volume expectations. Forecast sales-volume expectations. Per-unit cost less cost of goods sold is your gross profit or margin.

Forecast 290

Forecast Burn Rate Widget Business Plan 290

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

how on Earth could the venture capital market stand still? One of the most common questions I’m asked by people intrigued by but also scared by venture capital and technology markets is some variant of, “Aren’t technology markets way overvalued? two founders in a garage?—?(HP Of course we can’t. dot-com bonanza.

Pre-Money Valuation 471

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Venture Capital Early Stage 471

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 28, 2010

Do More Faster: TechStars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup is the new book by David Cohen , founder and CEO of TechStars, and Brad Feld , managing director of Foundry Group. Below is his chapter, Avoid Co-Founder Conflict. A perennial favorite is to decide that each founder should own an equal share. For what reasons?

Cofounder 128

Cofounder Founder Equity Dilution 128

Up and Running

AUGUST 30, 2021

Entrepreneurs have to get really comfortable with rejection, especially as a first-time founder. This is what most founders do. Angel investors, venture capital firms, accelerators, and (maybe) the newer equity crowdfunding will look to see if you have previous experience in startups. Solve the rest later.

Entrepreneur 132

Entrepreneur Lean Colorado Engineer 132

The Startup Magazine

MAY 26, 2020

Here’s more from The Startup Magazine Founder Interview series. We interviewed Bill Walsh, CEO/Founder of Business Coaching / Venture Capital firm Powerteam International. The post Founder Interview: Bill Walsh on Eliminating Small Business Failure appeared first on The Startup Magazine. Definitely great points.

Small Business 153

Small Business Founder Miami Florida 153

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

by Bob Adams, serial entrepreneur and founder of BusinessTown.com. After all you are not planning on trying to get even a bank loan, let alone venture capital. It’s hard to say what sales level you will achieve in a new business, so maybe you have 3 sets of projections: good case, base case and weak case.

Business Plan 173

Business Plan Startup Venture Capital Differentiation 173

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 20, 2020

insert founder number] of the founders dropped out of [insert Ivy League school]. We wish we were the founders, experiencing this testosterone-fueled melodrama of success. All while the majority of the economy is driven greatly by boring industries often owned by private equity, not venture capital.

Sweat Equity 107

Sweat Equity Non-Compete Startup Azure 107

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2012

Yet, I find that startup founders often fixate on one or two sources, often to the detriment of their business. Venture capital. An investment from a venture capital firm is usually expensive, in equity and control. An example would be getting free office space by agreeing to be the property manager for the owner.

Technical Review 257

Technical Review Bootstrapping Venture Capital Incubator 257

Steve Blank

MAY 29, 2011

The email continued, &# The problem I’m working on is that many founders are either making uninformed decisions or inefficiently learning the new skills they need. The solution I’m exploring is a just in time learning methodology that accelerates founders’ learning curve by aggregating relevant content, peers and mentors.&#.

Technical Cofounder 334

Technical Cofounder Early Stage Startup Silicon Valley 334

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2021

In my experience, here are some of the key elements of that “second-stage” of entrepreneurship: Move from small investors to major venture capital. In fact, it’s highly unlikely that you as the Founder will survive. Switch your focus from product development to sales.

Merger 379

Merger Due Diligence SEC IPO 379

David Teten

AUGUST 7, 2019

Likely signs of a Value investment: the company has challenges in filling out the round; the investors have more negotiating leverage than the founders during the closing process; the company has significantly better metrics (e.g. Today, some Momentum-centric venture capital investors have high paper returns. Sense of victory.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Valuation Stock NDA 60

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 12, 2020

Venture capital firms have become more discerning where they put their limited funds to use, and banks have always been anti-startup in their business dealings. Many startups are already tech-based, and the tech they use can help them connect with consumers and make sales online. Startup Survival Tactics During the Pandemic.

Bankruptcy 165

Bankruptcy Startup Agile Technical Review 165

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 22, 2020

Some organizers don’t actually know—and they just decided to invite any random VC, software developer, or founder—hence their really boring, generic questions. People get turned off if your introduction gives so much detail and goes on for so long that it feels like a sales pitch. also forces them to think about the same.

Venture Capital 84

Venture Capital Audience Restful Software Developers 84

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 20, 2020

We wish we were the founders, experiencing this testosterone-fueled melodrama of success. All while the majority of the economy is driven greatly by boring industries often owned by private equity, not venture capital. Why We Are In Love With Startups? The infatuation is real. Without demand, startups falter and ultimately fail.

Sweat Equity 78

Sweat Equity Non-Compete Startup Azure 78

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

I’ve been a traditional equity VC for 8 years, and I’m now researching new business models in venture capital. RBI normally requires founders to pay back their investors with a fixed percentage of revenue until they have finished providing the investor with a fixed return on capital, which they agree upon in advance.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2011

Yet, I find that startup founders often fixate on one or two sources, often to the detriment of their business. Venture capital. An investment from a venture capital firm is usually expensive, in equity and control. An example would be getting free office space by agreeing to be the property manager for the owner.

Technical Review 233

Technical Review Bootstrapping Startup Venture Capital 233