View from Seed

MAY 5, 2015

During the preceding pitch process, even founders who are highly transparent, honest folks try to put their startup in the best possible light for a new investor, so it’s only natural that a more complete picture of a company’s situation (warts and all) sometimes comes into focus after the round is closed and board meeting scheduled.

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Seed Capital Seed Stage Cofounder Founder 120

View from Seed

JANUARY 5, 2015

Admittedly, our industry tends to celebrate these financings a bit too much — it’s gasoline for the car and not the destination, after all — but it’s still a difficult, sometimes lengthy process for which founders deserve some recognition. As a reminder, you can find all our startup resources here.).

Seed Capital 120

Seed Capital Seed Stage Entrepreneur Venture Capital 120

View from Seed

OCTOBER 22, 2015

I suspect that the 18-month rule originated because that’s the approximate average time it takes for startups to reach an important value-inflection milestone. Yet the next round of capital is going to be based on what was accomplished, certainly not by how much time elapsed. Startups are hard. Don’t raise as much.

Seed Capital 120

Seed Capital Seed Stage Demand Finance 120

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. Here’s why.

Seed Stage 201

Seed Stage Stealth Seed Capital Later Stage 201

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. Seed stage startups are now graded on a curve. The bar for Series A has moved.

Seed Stage 136

Seed Stage Post-Money Valuation Valuation Startup 136

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. More on these below.). There was no meaningful difference.

Syndicate 333

Syndicate Syndication Seed Stage Startup 333

View from Seed

DECEMBER 10, 2014

He is currently a second year student at Harvard Business School and will be focused on supporting the early-stage startup community in Boston and its schools. This is his first post to The View From Seed. There’s been a lot of discussion lately about startup fundraising by graduates of various business schools.

Boston 328

Boston Seed Stage San Francisco Startup 328

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 11, 2019

*This post is part of our “pitch deck” series where we dissect the seed stage pitch deck and discuss the ideal flow for a pitch. Now it’s time to set the stage with the early traction you have. Seed stage VCs are realistic about how much traction a very raw company might have. B) Post-Product Companies.

Seed Stage 149

Seed Stage B2B Seed Capital Revenue 149

K9 Ventures

JUNE 5, 2015

Almost two years ago, in a private/closed meeting with K9 Ventures’ LPs only, I claimed that: What was being referred to in the press as the “Series A Crunch” was not because fewer Series A deals were being done, but because there were too many Seed deals being done. The risk here is what I refer to as the curse of over-capitalization.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation 48

View from Seed

OCTOBER 22, 2015

One of the best and most positive movements proliferating around the tech community is what Product Hunt founder and CEO Ryan Hoover calls “building in public.” Because of both lean startup principles and a thriving community of pay-it-forward individuals, we can all now build a little, learn a little, and then repeat.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Seed Capital Syndicate Syndication 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2012

When a company is at its earliest seed stage, the terms tend to be the least complex. The first capital a young company receives usually takes the form of common stock, the same class of shares the founders hold. Investors may provide money in stages or tranches, based on defined milestones, to decrease investment risk.

Term Sheet 223

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

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

When a company is at its earliest seed stage, the terms tend to be the least complex. The first capital a young company receives usually takes the form of common stock, the same class of shares the founders hold. Investors may provide money in stages or tranches, based on defined milestones, to decrease investment risk.

Term Sheet 227

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

Haystack

SEPTEMBER 2, 2018

If you have conviction : invest and help the founder finish their round with good intros to other investors. There is a process the founder goes through, he or she collects interest, and then works on closing the round with their lawyers at a fixed time. For any startup selling an annual license, the deal may not get signed right away.

Seed Stage 76

Seed Stage Seed Capital Equity Europe 76

Gust

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

How to finance a new seed-stage startup? ” Ressi in particular seems to be passionate about removing the “debt” component from convertible debt seed financing transactions. Convertible debt? Convertible equity? As of August 2010, Paul Graham famously proclaimed , “Convertible notes have won.

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Finance Convertible Security Equity Seed Stage 134

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 19, 2015

The following is a real (but anonymized) email to us at NextView where a founder debates the timing of his seed raise: I met with someone today who said I should push to close a seed round before I launch the product. However, to push the right type of thinking about the issue, I typically ask founders three questions: 1.

Seed Capital 120

Seed Capital Seed Stage Dilution Networking 120

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. 1: Founders Often Miss the Most Important Slide.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Seed Stage Boston Startup 120

View from Seed

OCTOBER 22, 2015

One of the things we frequently discuss with founders is how to interpret and manage their dialogue with VCs when raising capital. We’ve written before on how to research partners , how to pitch the right investor at a given firm, and how to raise seed capital , generally speaking.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Due Diligence Seed Stage Seed Capital 120

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 10, 2015

by Clarence Wooten , founder of VentureFund.io and Progress.ly. Startup funding is largely driven by The Golden Rule: He who has the gold, makes the rules. Let’s face it, the rules for getting a startup funded at the seed stage aren’t very clear. TVR: The traditional way of raising seed funding.

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Seed Stage Silicon Valley Startup Venture Capital 100

mashable.com

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

For the first-time entrepreneur or founder looking for seed stage funding, this circle can be especially difficult to penetrate. Mashable Mashable reached out to angels, seed stage investors and VC firm partners and asked them to share their wisdom with the rest of us. and Path Intelligence.

Angel Investor 80

Angel Investor Startup San Francisco Social Media 80

Rob Go

NOVEMBER 30, 2012

I was surprised to find that it has been more than two years since my post summarizing the state of the seed stage market, and trying to bring a balanced view on the rise of Super Angels and Micro-VC’s. The venture capital market continues to be in transition, and a lot of changes have occurred in the early stages of the market.

Seed Stage 55

Seed Stage Pre-Money Valuation Dilution Early Stage 55

VC Cafe

JULY 5, 2010

A s venture funds struggle to raise money in Israel, seed capital, one of the earliest and riskiest stages of investment, is becoming harder and harder to secure. based Angel capital with early stage technology companies in Israel, and do so in a way that substantially mitigates the risk of seed stage investing.

Technical Review 106

Technical Review Software Review Seed Stage 106

View from Seed

APRIL 23, 2015

In the startup world, one POTAJ that’s easy and worthwhile to defend is the need to focus on building great products and innovative technology instead of trying to over-sell lousy solutions. ” Founders must address distribution in their pitches both overtly and succinctly. You can find those here. ). Accidental VC'

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Founder Distribution Viral Seed Stage 120